Former hotel engineers guilty of $850,000 kickback scam
2000-8-4
Three engineers formerly employed by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (Mandarin Group), charged by the ICAC, were convicted at District Court today (Friday) of taking illegal kickbacks totalling $852,000 to award $5 million worth of contracts on behalf o f two hotels under the group.
The defendants were Chan Chun-man, 40, former group engineering manager of Mandarin Group; Wong Kok-mun, 59 and Jue Ving-kung, 58, respectively former chief engineer and former assistant chief engineer of Excelsior Hotel.
They were found guilty on a total of five counts of conspiracy to accept advantages between 1995 and 1997 under Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
The charges alleged the defendants, while being employed by Mandarin Group, of conspiring to accept $852,571 in total from Fung Yin-tak, proprietor of Karson Building Services & Engineering Company (Karson), for awarding decoration and maintenance contrac ts by the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong Limited (Mandarin Oriental) and Excelsior Hotel (Hong Kong) Limited (Excelsior).
Judge Donald Christie adjourned the case to August 11, 2000 for sentence and remanded the defendants in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
Tam Chiu-yuen, the then Group Engineering Manager of Mandarin Group, was the alleged mastermind of the scam. Tam left Hong Kong in 1997 and a warrant was issued by the court for his arrest.
Both Mandarin Oriental and Excelsior are affiliated companies of Mandarin Group.
The court heard that in 1991, Tam instructed Fung to inflate all Karson's quotations to the Mandarin Oriental and the Excelsior by 10 percent in general as “commissions”, which Tam would share with Chan, who was then chief engineering of Mandarin Oriental.
Tam also told Fung that Chan and Wong would occasionally give him “specific instructions” to increase the amount of “commissions”. In this case, Tam would take 85 percent of the additional amount while Fung would share the remaining 15 percent. Fung agreed to the plan.
Tam resigned from Mandarin Group and immigrated to Canada in 1996. Chan took up Tam's post and became the group engineering manager.
Chan instructed Fung that the bribe payments would continue, while Wong and Jue also initiated similar arrangements with Fung.
The court heard that between 1995 and 1997, a number of contracts, worth totalling $5,239,700, were awarded to Karson by the two hotels, of which $852,571 was taken by the defendants as illegal kickbacks.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Chan was also accused of offering bribes to a subordinate and conspiring with Wong Yiu-kuen, proprietor of Wong Choy Decoration and Painting, to defraud Mandarin Group. The case will be heard next month.
The ICAC received full co-operation from Mandarin Group's management during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Crystal Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Dickson Liang.
The defendants were Chan Chun-man, 40, former group engineering manager of Mandarin Group; Wong Kok-mun, 59 and Jue Ving-kung, 58, respectively former chief engineer and former assistant chief engineer of Excelsior Hotel.
They were found guilty on a total of five counts of conspiracy to accept advantages between 1995 and 1997 under Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
The charges alleged the defendants, while being employed by Mandarin Group, of conspiring to accept $852,571 in total from Fung Yin-tak, proprietor of Karson Building Services & Engineering Company (Karson), for awarding decoration and maintenance contrac ts by the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong Limited (Mandarin Oriental) and Excelsior Hotel (Hong Kong) Limited (Excelsior).
Judge Donald Christie adjourned the case to August 11, 2000 for sentence and remanded the defendants in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
Tam Chiu-yuen, the then Group Engineering Manager of Mandarin Group, was the alleged mastermind of the scam. Tam left Hong Kong in 1997 and a warrant was issued by the court for his arrest.
Both Mandarin Oriental and Excelsior are affiliated companies of Mandarin Group.
The court heard that in 1991, Tam instructed Fung to inflate all Karson's quotations to the Mandarin Oriental and the Excelsior by 10 percent in general as “commissions”, which Tam would share with Chan, who was then chief engineering of Mandarin Oriental.
Tam also told Fung that Chan and Wong would occasionally give him “specific instructions” to increase the amount of “commissions”. In this case, Tam would take 85 percent of the additional amount while Fung would share the remaining 15 percent. Fung agreed to the plan.
Tam resigned from Mandarin Group and immigrated to Canada in 1996. Chan took up Tam's post and became the group engineering manager.
Chan instructed Fung that the bribe payments would continue, while Wong and Jue also initiated similar arrangements with Fung.
The court heard that between 1995 and 1997, a number of contracts, worth totalling $5,239,700, were awarded to Karson by the two hotels, of which $852,571 was taken by the defendants as illegal kickbacks.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Chan was also accused of offering bribes to a subordinate and conspiring with Wong Yiu-kuen, proprietor of Wong Choy Decoration and Painting, to defraud Mandarin Group. The case will be heard next month.
The ICAC received full co-operation from Mandarin Group's management during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Crystal Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Dickson Liang.