Ex-senior executive of aircraft management services company jailed for accepting HK$0.6m bribes
2021-5-12
A former senior executive of an aircraft management services company, charged by the ICAC, was today (May 12) sentenced to 34 months’ imprisonment after admitting at the District Court that he had accepted at least about HK$600,000 from a ground service provider for engaging the latter’s service and assisting it to recover outstanding service fees.
Tham Chun-fung, 37, former deputy chief operating officer of Lily Jet (Hong Kong) Limited (Lily Jet), pleaded guilty to six charges – five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO); and one of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the POBO and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
Two other charges of conspiracy to furnish false information against the defendant were left on file at the District Court.
In sentencing, Judge Mr Tam Sze-lok said corruption was a serious offence and the court had to mete out a deterrent sentence to curb it.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay about HK$600,000, which was equivalent to the total bribes the defendant accepted, as restitution to Lily Jet.
The court heard that the defendant joined Lily Jet, which provided services to private aircraft owners, in October 2012 and was promoted to deputy chief operating officer in November 2017. He was responsible for engaging ground service providers for clients of Lily Jet and approving service payments to those service providers.
In November 2016, Lily Jet entered into an agreement with Fastransit Aviation Service Limited (Fastransit) for providing ground services in Mainland airports to clients of Lily Jet. But Lily Jet could also engage other ground service providers for its clients.
The court heard that the defendant had requested Fastransit to reduce its service fee. The sole director and shareholder of Fastransit in response offered to pay a commission to the defendant for each engagement of Fastransit’s service.
Between May 19, 2017 and June 28, 2018, the defendant accepted a commission of about HK$176,000 and four other commissions totalling about US$55,000 (around HK$426,000) from the aforesaid Fastransit director. He stopped making any fee reduction request to Fastransit after receiving the five commissions totalling over HK$600,000.
Lily Jet had engaged Fastransit for its service and paid the latter service fees totalling about HK$16 million between October 2016 and September 2018.
The court also heard that in March 2018, a client of Lily Jet failed to settle service fees with Lily Jet and it affected Fastransit’s collection of the relevant service fees from Lily Jet.
With the assistance of the defendant, Fastransit recovered the outstanding service payments from Lily Jet. The aforesaid Fastransit director thus agreed to offer about US$88,000 (about HK$680,000) to the defendant as commission for his assistance. The acceptance did not materialise after Lily Jet learned of the incident.
Lily Jet prohibited its staff members from accepting any advantage in relation to the company’s affairs or business.
Lily Jet had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Marcus Lee, assisted by ICAC officer Kelvin Cheung.
Tham Chun-fung, 37, former deputy chief operating officer of Lily Jet (Hong Kong) Limited (Lily Jet), pleaded guilty to six charges – five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO); and one of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the POBO and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
Two other charges of conspiracy to furnish false information against the defendant were left on file at the District Court.
In sentencing, Judge Mr Tam Sze-lok said corruption was a serious offence and the court had to mete out a deterrent sentence to curb it.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay about HK$600,000, which was equivalent to the total bribes the defendant accepted, as restitution to Lily Jet.
The court heard that the defendant joined Lily Jet, which provided services to private aircraft owners, in October 2012 and was promoted to deputy chief operating officer in November 2017. He was responsible for engaging ground service providers for clients of Lily Jet and approving service payments to those service providers.
In November 2016, Lily Jet entered into an agreement with Fastransit Aviation Service Limited (Fastransit) for providing ground services in Mainland airports to clients of Lily Jet. But Lily Jet could also engage other ground service providers for its clients.
The court heard that the defendant had requested Fastransit to reduce its service fee. The sole director and shareholder of Fastransit in response offered to pay a commission to the defendant for each engagement of Fastransit’s service.
Between May 19, 2017 and June 28, 2018, the defendant accepted a commission of about HK$176,000 and four other commissions totalling about US$55,000 (around HK$426,000) from the aforesaid Fastransit director. He stopped making any fee reduction request to Fastransit after receiving the five commissions totalling over HK$600,000.
Lily Jet had engaged Fastransit for its service and paid the latter service fees totalling about HK$16 million between October 2016 and September 2018.
The court also heard that in March 2018, a client of Lily Jet failed to settle service fees with Lily Jet and it affected Fastransit’s collection of the relevant service fees from Lily Jet.
With the assistance of the defendant, Fastransit recovered the outstanding service payments from Lily Jet. The aforesaid Fastransit director thus agreed to offer about US$88,000 (about HK$680,000) to the defendant as commission for his assistance. The acceptance did not materialise after Lily Jet learned of the incident.
Lily Jet prohibited its staff members from accepting any advantage in relation to the company’s affairs or business.
Lily Jet had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Marcus Lee, assisted by ICAC officer Kelvin Cheung.