Trio jailed for bribery and false accounting over HA’s building projects
2008-12-18
Three senior executives of two companies, charged by the ICAC, were today (Thursday) sentenced at the District Court for $1.9 million bribery charges and false accounting offences in relation to the supply of electrical materials to Hong Kong Housing Auth ority’s (HA) building projects.
Wong Hung-ki, 57, director of Mpower Engineering Limited (Mpower); and Yu Chi-wai, 49, president of ABB Industrial and Building Systems Limited (now known as ABB (Hong Kong) Limited) (ABB), each received a jail term of five years; while Ann Wong Tin-sum, 41, financial controller of ABB, was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment.
Judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai remarked that custodial sentences were imposed on the defendants as corruption, characterized as cancerous, would secretly and quietly destroy the health of society.
The judge reprimanded Wong and Yu for not only tolerating corruption, but also participating in the corruption scam of such a large scale.
In sentencing Ann Wong, the judge said the defendant had rendered her assistance in facilitating the commission of corruption. Holding a senior position, the defendant should alert the senior management of the company to the corruption scam or make a corr uption report to the ICAC, the judge said.
The defendants were earlier found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to offer an advantage to public servants and two of conspiracy to falsify account.
The court heard that HA contracted out building projects to main contractors, who would in turn sub-contract the installation of various building services, namely electrical equipment, fire service and water pumps, air-conditioning and ventilation, as wel l as lifts and escalators, to other subcontractors. HA would then appoint those building services sub-contractors as Nominated Sub-contractors (NSCs).
Since August 1998, Wong, Yu, a sales manager of ABB and another supplier had regular meetings, during which they formed a cartel and discussed the order of priority for Mpower, ABB and another cartel member to secure contracts for the supply of an electri cal material, known as Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB), to those NSCs in forthcoming HA building projects. Two other suppliers subsequently joined the cartel in January 1999.
As a result, the suppliers avoided genuine competitions among themselves, and secured a greater profit margin.
At a subsequent meeting, Wong told Yu and the sales manager of ABB that certain officers of the Housing Department (HD), which is an executive arm of the HA, had offered assistance in pressurizing some of the NSCs to engage the cartel members to supply MC Bs.
The court also heard that between May and July 1999, Wong and Yu conspired with other persons to offer a bribe payment of about $700,000 to the above HD officers. The bribe money was equally contributed by Mpower, ABB and other companies in the cartel, t he court heard.
To cover up ABB’s share of the bribe payment, equivalent to $233,350, Wong, Yu and Ann Wong conspired with the sales manager of ABB to issue a bogus purchase order to Mpower.
The bogus purchase order, for the same amount of $233,350, purported to show that ABB had placed an order with Mpower for the provision of technicians and equipment for modification of capacitor banks.
The court also heard that between May and August 1999, Wong and Yu conspired with other persons to offer a bribe payment of about $1.2 million to those HD officers for the same purpose.
Wong, Yu and Ann Wong then conspired with the sales manager of ABB to issue two bogus purchase orders for the amount of $200,000 each, purporting to show that ABB had placed orders with Mpower and another company in the cartel respectively, the court was told.
The defendants were charged in June 2004. A District Court deputy judge ordered a stay of proceedings in July 2005 on grounds that the ICAC’s taping of a meeting between Yu and his lawyer in November 2002 had infringed Yu’s legal professional privilege.
In December 2005, the Court of First Instance ruled in favour of the Department of Justice in a judicial review on the aforesaid ruling and ordered the case to be remitted to the District Court for fresh determination.
The defendants’ subsequent bids to revert the ruling were dismissed by the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal respectively in December 2006 and September 2007.
In delivering his verdict earlier, Judge Chan gave reasons for his earlier dismissal of the defendants’ fresh application for stay of proceedings made in the current trial.
The judge found that the November 2002 meeting was yet another occasion where Yu was trying to pervert the course of public justice, and lawyers were being used as innocent tools to further his criminal purpose. It was a meeting where legal professional privilege had no application.
The judge also determined that there was no abuse of executive power in this case, and the ICAC’s action to tape the meeting was not unreasonable and was without bad faith.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Keith Oderberg and Giles Surman, assisted by ICAC officer Jamie Fung.
Wong Hung-ki, 57, director of Mpower Engineering Limited (Mpower); and Yu Chi-wai, 49, president of ABB Industrial and Building Systems Limited (now known as ABB (Hong Kong) Limited) (ABB), each received a jail term of five years; while Ann Wong Tin-sum, 41, financial controller of ABB, was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment.
Judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai remarked that custodial sentences were imposed on the defendants as corruption, characterized as cancerous, would secretly and quietly destroy the health of society.
The judge reprimanded Wong and Yu for not only tolerating corruption, but also participating in the corruption scam of such a large scale.
In sentencing Ann Wong, the judge said the defendant had rendered her assistance in facilitating the commission of corruption. Holding a senior position, the defendant should alert the senior management of the company to the corruption scam or make a corr uption report to the ICAC, the judge said.
The defendants were earlier found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to offer an advantage to public servants and two of conspiracy to falsify account.
The court heard that HA contracted out building projects to main contractors, who would in turn sub-contract the installation of various building services, namely electrical equipment, fire service and water pumps, air-conditioning and ventilation, as wel l as lifts and escalators, to other subcontractors. HA would then appoint those building services sub-contractors as Nominated Sub-contractors (NSCs).
Since August 1998, Wong, Yu, a sales manager of ABB and another supplier had regular meetings, during which they formed a cartel and discussed the order of priority for Mpower, ABB and another cartel member to secure contracts for the supply of an electri cal material, known as Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB), to those NSCs in forthcoming HA building projects. Two other suppliers subsequently joined the cartel in January 1999.
As a result, the suppliers avoided genuine competitions among themselves, and secured a greater profit margin.
At a subsequent meeting, Wong told Yu and the sales manager of ABB that certain officers of the Housing Department (HD), which is an executive arm of the HA, had offered assistance in pressurizing some of the NSCs to engage the cartel members to supply MC Bs.
The court also heard that between May and July 1999, Wong and Yu conspired with other persons to offer a bribe payment of about $700,000 to the above HD officers. The bribe money was equally contributed by Mpower, ABB and other companies in the cartel, t he court heard.
To cover up ABB’s share of the bribe payment, equivalent to $233,350, Wong, Yu and Ann Wong conspired with the sales manager of ABB to issue a bogus purchase order to Mpower.
The bogus purchase order, for the same amount of $233,350, purported to show that ABB had placed an order with Mpower for the provision of technicians and equipment for modification of capacitor banks.
The court also heard that between May and August 1999, Wong and Yu conspired with other persons to offer a bribe payment of about $1.2 million to those HD officers for the same purpose.
Wong, Yu and Ann Wong then conspired with the sales manager of ABB to issue two bogus purchase orders for the amount of $200,000 each, purporting to show that ABB had placed orders with Mpower and another company in the cartel respectively, the court was told.
The defendants were charged in June 2004. A District Court deputy judge ordered a stay of proceedings in July 2005 on grounds that the ICAC’s taping of a meeting between Yu and his lawyer in November 2002 had infringed Yu’s legal professional privilege.
In December 2005, the Court of First Instance ruled in favour of the Department of Justice in a judicial review on the aforesaid ruling and ordered the case to be remitted to the District Court for fresh determination.
The defendants’ subsequent bids to revert the ruling were dismissed by the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal respectively in December 2006 and September 2007.
In delivering his verdict earlier, Judge Chan gave reasons for his earlier dismissal of the defendants’ fresh application for stay of proceedings made in the current trial.
The judge found that the November 2002 meeting was yet another occasion where Yu was trying to pervert the course of public justice, and lawyers were being used as innocent tools to further his criminal purpose. It was a meeting where legal professional privilege had no application.
The judge also determined that there was no abuse of executive power in this case, and the ICAC’s action to tape the meeting was not unreasonable and was without bad faith.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Keith Oderberg and Giles Surman, assisted by ICAC officer Jamie Fung.