Former Chief Property Manager jailed for 'misconduct in public office' offences over $157m government contracts
2000-12-19
A former Chief Property Manager of the Government Property Agency was jailed for nine months at District Court today (Tuesday) for permitting the wrongful awards of government property management contracts worth over $157 million in total.
Shum Kwok-sher, 53, now Principal Valuation Surveyor of the Rating and Valuation Department, was today found guilty of four counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to the Common Law.
Judge Line said an immediate custodial sentence was imposed because Shum's misconduct in public office had tilted what should have been a level playing field.
"Governments spend enormous amounts of our money. There is an obvious public interest in ensuring that those with whom they contract compete evenly and are treated evenly. You have damaged that public interest," the judge said.
It is important for Hong Kong to preserve a civil service that is honest and impartial in its dealings with the public, the judge added.
An ICAC spokesman said: “The conviction and sentence indicate that such kind of behaviour is accepted by the court as a serious criminal offence.”
The case originated from a corruption complaint, alleging that a Chief Property Manager might have accepted advantages in return for wrongfully awarding government contracts. ICAC enquiries revealed the misconduct offences.
The first charge said Shum, being the holder of a public office, had done a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest.
He had dishonestly caused and permitted Onclever Limited (Onclever) to be wrongfully pre-qualified as a tenderer for government contracts for management of domestic accommodation by:
- failing to declare a conflict of interests arising from Shum's family relationship with the directors and shareholders of Onclever, contrary to the Civil Service Branch Circular No. 19/1992;
- failing to abstain from the decision making process in respect of the pre-qualification of Onclever; and
- acting partially in favour of Onclever in the pre-qualification process, namely recommending Onclever to be pre-qualified despite the fact that he knew the company lacked the necessary qualifications for pre-qualification.
According to the second charge, Shum, while being the holder of a public office, had dishonestly caused and permitted the wrongful award of a $56,147,076 management contract of 10 military sites in favour of Onclever.
Shum had also dishonestly caused and permitted the wrongful award of a $87,561,884 contract relating to the management of the former Hong Kong International Airport at Kai Tak in favour of Onclever.
He had failed to abstain from the decision making process in respect of recommendations to the Central Tender Board of successful tenderers for the two contracts, and to have recommended Onclever to be awarded the contracts despite knowledge of its lack o f the necessary qualifications for such contracts.
The final charge said Shum had dishonestly acted partially in favour of Onclever, Southern Services Limited and their related company, the A A Property Services Limited, causing and permitting the companies to be awarded over 90 per cent of all short term contracts worth $13,720,410.91.
In relation to this offence, apart from allegedly failing to declare a conflict of interests, Shum had:
- kept all the quotation letters in his exclusive custody;
- failed to abstain from the exercise of control of the quotation system in respect of the award of short-term contracts despite the conflict of interests; and
- recommended the companies to bid for the short-term contracts.
The offences took place between August 1, 1994 and November 1, 1999.
The prosecution was today represented by Paul Loughran on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Tony Leung.
Shum Kwok-sher, 53, now Principal Valuation Surveyor of the Rating and Valuation Department, was today found guilty of four counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to the Common Law.
Judge Line said an immediate custodial sentence was imposed because Shum's misconduct in public office had tilted what should have been a level playing field.
"Governments spend enormous amounts of our money. There is an obvious public interest in ensuring that those with whom they contract compete evenly and are treated evenly. You have damaged that public interest," the judge said.
It is important for Hong Kong to preserve a civil service that is honest and impartial in its dealings with the public, the judge added.
An ICAC spokesman said: “The conviction and sentence indicate that such kind of behaviour is accepted by the court as a serious criminal offence.”
The case originated from a corruption complaint, alleging that a Chief Property Manager might have accepted advantages in return for wrongfully awarding government contracts. ICAC enquiries revealed the misconduct offences.
The first charge said Shum, being the holder of a public office, had done a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest.
He had dishonestly caused and permitted Onclever Limited (Onclever) to be wrongfully pre-qualified as a tenderer for government contracts for management of domestic accommodation by:
- failing to declare a conflict of interests arising from Shum's family relationship with the directors and shareholders of Onclever, contrary to the Civil Service Branch Circular No. 19/1992;
- failing to abstain from the decision making process in respect of the pre-qualification of Onclever; and
- acting partially in favour of Onclever in the pre-qualification process, namely recommending Onclever to be pre-qualified despite the fact that he knew the company lacked the necessary qualifications for pre-qualification.
According to the second charge, Shum, while being the holder of a public office, had dishonestly caused and permitted the wrongful award of a $56,147,076 management contract of 10 military sites in favour of Onclever.
Shum had also dishonestly caused and permitted the wrongful award of a $87,561,884 contract relating to the management of the former Hong Kong International Airport at Kai Tak in favour of Onclever.
He had failed to abstain from the decision making process in respect of recommendations to the Central Tender Board of successful tenderers for the two contracts, and to have recommended Onclever to be awarded the contracts despite knowledge of its lack o f the necessary qualifications for such contracts.
The final charge said Shum had dishonestly acted partially in favour of Onclever, Southern Services Limited and their related company, the A A Property Services Limited, causing and permitting the companies to be awarded over 90 per cent of all short term contracts worth $13,720,410.91.
In relation to this offence, apart from allegedly failing to declare a conflict of interests, Shum had:
- kept all the quotation letters in his exclusive custody;
- failed to abstain from the exercise of control of the quotation system in respect of the award of short-term contracts despite the conflict of interests; and
- recommended the companies to bid for the short-term contracts.
The offences took place between August 1, 1994 and November 1, 1999.
The prosecution was today represented by Paul Loughran on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Tony Leung.