A director of a renovation contractor was today (Wednesday) charged by the ICAC for alleged bribery in obtaining renovation contracts of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIE) and a bank.

Lo Hung-kwan, 50, director of Thomas Lo Contracting Limited (Thomas Lo), will appear in Eastern Magistracy at 9:30 am on Friday (December 15) on two counts of offering an advantage and one of conspiracy to solicit an advantage under the Prevention of Brib ery Ordinance.

One of the charges alleges that Lo had offered $600,000 to a senior executive of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung Project Services Limited (DTZ Debenham) as a reward for assisting Thomas Lo to secure the renovation contract of the New Town Centre campus of HKIE.

Lo is also alleged to have offered $170,000 to the senior executive of DTZ Debenham on a separate occasion for the same reason.

The remaining charge alleges Lo of conspiring with the senior executive of DTZ Debenham for the latter to solicit 5% of the project sum of a renovation contract of the Shanghai Nanjing Xi Lu branch of Hang Seng Bank Limited (HSB) from another contractor.

The alleged bribe was said to be a reward for the senior executive of DTZ Debenham to assist that other contractor to secure the above renovation contract.

ICAC enquiries revealed that the renovation contracts of HKIE and HSB were worth over $20 million and 5.7 million yuan respectively.

The alleged bribery offences took place between March and September this year.

The defendant has been released on ICAC bail, pending his court appearance on Friday.