Former Chief Property Manager charged with 'misconduct in public office' Common Law offences over $140m government contracts
2000-6-29
A former Chief Property Manager of the Government Property Agency, who allegedly permitted the wrongful awards of government property management contracts worth over $140 million in total, was charged by the ICAC today (Thursday).
Shum Kwok-sher, 52, now Principal Valuation Surveyor of the Rating and Valuation Department, has been granted bail by the ICAC, and will appear at 9:30 am in Eastern Court tomorrow (Friday) to face four counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to the Common Law.
The case originated from a corruption complaint, which alleged that a Chief Property Manager might have accepted advantages in return for wrongfully awarding government contracts.
ICAC enquiries revealed the alleged misconduct offences, and charges were brought against Shum following legal advice from the Department of Justice.
Shum was charged with one count of, being the holder of a public office, doing a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest.
He was accused of having 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.
The second charge alleged that 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 the military estate in favour of Onclever.
Shum was also accused of having 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 was said to have 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 of the necessary qualifications for them.
The final charge alleged that 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 sh ort term contracts worth $904,000.
In relation to this charge, apart from allegedly failing to declare a conflict of interests, Shum was also accused of:
- requiring tender documents for short-term contracts to be submitted inside plain envelopes instead of sealed envelopes with the company logos of the tenderers;
- keeping all the tender documents in his exclusive custody; and
- failing 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.
The alleged offences took place between August 1, 1994 and December 21, 1998.
The ICAC has obtained full assistance from the Government Property Agency during its investigation.
" Civil servants are reminded that misuse of official position for pecuniary gains, whether for himself or others, can be a serious offence and prosecutable under the Common Law, " an ICAC spokesman said.
The spokesman noted that the ICAC and the Civil Service Bureau are looking into the feasibility of replacing this Common Law offence with a statutory provision under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
" This move aims to codify the offence in clear terms to ensure fairness to all parties concerned and to enhance the awareness amongst civil servants against this sort of offences, ” the spokesman added.
Shum Kwok-sher, 52, now Principal Valuation Surveyor of the Rating and Valuation Department, has been granted bail by the ICAC, and will appear at 9:30 am in Eastern Court tomorrow (Friday) to face four counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to the Common Law.
The case originated from a corruption complaint, which alleged that a Chief Property Manager might have accepted advantages in return for wrongfully awarding government contracts.
ICAC enquiries revealed the alleged misconduct offences, and charges were brought against Shum following legal advice from the Department of Justice.
Shum was charged with one count of, being the holder of a public office, doing a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest.
He was accused of having 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.
The second charge alleged that 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 the military estate in favour of Onclever.
Shum was also accused of having 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 was said to have 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 of the necessary qualifications for them.
The final charge alleged that 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 sh ort term contracts worth $904,000.
In relation to this charge, apart from allegedly failing to declare a conflict of interests, Shum was also accused of:
- requiring tender documents for short-term contracts to be submitted inside plain envelopes instead of sealed envelopes with the company logos of the tenderers;
- keeping all the tender documents in his exclusive custody; and
- failing 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.
The alleged offences took place between August 1, 1994 and December 21, 1998.
The ICAC has obtained full assistance from the Government Property Agency during its investigation.
" Civil servants are reminded that misuse of official position for pecuniary gains, whether for himself or others, can be a serious offence and prosecutable under the Common Law, " an ICAC spokesman said.
The spokesman noted that the ICAC and the Civil Service Bureau are looking into the feasibility of replacing this Common Law offence with a statutory provision under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
" This move aims to codify the offence in clear terms to ensure fairness to all parties concerned and to enhance the awareness amongst civil servants against this sort of offences, ” the spokesman added.