The ICAC has arrested 42 persons in the past two days for alleged corruption in relation to the theft of petrol from vehicles imported via Hong Kong to the Mainland by a vehicle importer, which is the Mainland subsidiary of an European car manufacturer.

Centred in the scam are two main suspects who were arrested in an operation codenamed "Checkmate" which commenced on Wednesday (January 20). One of them is a site supervisor employed by the subsidiary of the European car manufacturer in Hong Kong and the other is a foreman of a transportation contractor. The site supervisor was suspected to have corruptly connived at the theft activities organised by the foreman.

Also arrested are 40 individuals, including drivers employed by the transportation contractor, garage operators and vehicle owners.

The operation arose from a corruption complaint.

ICAC enquiries reveal that the Mainland vehicle importer imports vehicles from Europe to the Mainland via Hong Kong.

Prior to shipping, each of the imported vehicles has already been filled with a quantity of petrol in the fuel tank. Whilst in Hong Kong, the imported vehicles are transported to various carparks for temporary storage to facilitate checking procedures at two examination centres to ensure quality and safety prior to handing over to the Mainland buyers. These vehicles will be refilled with petrol between journeys.

The arrested site supervisor was responsible for the safe custody of the vehicles stored in the carparks for importation to the Mainland, and monitoring the performance of the transportation contractor engaged to provide drivers for transporting the vehicles to the Mainland.

It was alleged that the arrested transportation contractor's foreman and his subordinate drivers had stolen petrol from those imported vehicles inside the carparks, and sold the stolen petrol to operators of various garages and other car users.

The site supervisor was alleged to have accepted advantages from the transportation contractor's foreman as rewards for conniving at the theft.

During the operation, various equipment for stealing petrol from the imported vehicles and a large number of plastic containers, some of which were filled with suspected stolen petrol, were seized from the carparks, garages and vehicles.

Investigation reveals that the malpractice has been carried out for more than two years, generating crime proceeds totalling about $500,000 yearly.

The arrestees have been released on ICAC bail, pending further enquiries.