Trio in Tung Chung Station piling scam have jail terms increased
2000-10-4
The Court of Appeal today (Wednesday) ordered three men convicted of conspiracy to construct substandard bored piles at Tung Chung Station Development Package II Site 4 (the project) to serve additional prison terms following an application to review thei r sentences by the Department of Justice.
Li Che-hing, 51, former project manager of I-P Foundations Ltd. (I-P Foundations), had his sentence increased from 21 months' to five years' imprisonment, while the company's former site agent Ko Chi-kwong, 43, had his original six-month term increased to four-and-a-half years.
Yu Chun-man, 29, former site engineer of I-P Foundations, had his custodial sentence increased by three months to 24 months.
The application by the Department of Justice was earlier heard before Acting Chief Judge Mr Justice Mayo, Mr Justices Leong and Stock.
In delivering judgment today, Mr Justice Mayo said "this was a very serious offence which carries a maximum of 14 years imprisonment".
"What is involved is a major public safety issue. The failure to comply with the necessary requirements almost inevitably will subject any buildings erected on the site to the grave hazard that they might collapse and thus cause loss of life and severe i njuries to the occupants of the building," he said.
"The number of people placed at risk could run into the hundreds. This is to say nothing of the cost of effecting remedial measures to rectify the failure to comply with the necessary requirements.”
The Acting Chief Judge noted that for any party who was mainly responsible for making the decision to engage in such a scheme and ordered subordinates to go along with the deceptions, a starting point of about 10 years' imprisonment would be in no way exc essive.
He also said the Court of Appeal had accepted that Yu was entitled to a substantial discount for his plea on account of his giving evidence for the prosecution, and the 50% discount given by the trial judge was appropriate.
An ICAC spokesman today welcomes the Court of Appeal's ruling.
"It sends a strong and clear message to the community that corruption in construction works, which may cause massive devastation and put many people's lives at risk, will not be tolerated and the offenders will be severely punished," the spokesman said.
Li and Ko were found guilty of one count of conspiring with Yu, I-P Foundations staff David Hendy, Carl Voigt and others to defraud the Buildings Department and the project developer Tung Chung Station Development Company Limited (the project developer) o ver the piling works at the project between July 1, 1997 and April 30, 1998.
Yu pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge.
The trio were found to have constructed the bored piles not in accordance with the site plan approved by the Buildings Department, and falsely representing full compliance.
The court heard that amongst the 76 bored piles constructed, 66 were shortened by 0.54 metres to about 19 metres.
They had also caused the Building Authority to consent to the commencement of pile cap construction and the developer to pay for the substandard piling works.
I-P Foundations was the main contractor of the foundation work for blocks H1 to H4 of the project. The piling works for blocks H1, H3 and H4 was sub-contracted to Sunley Engineering & Construction Company Limited.
Maunsell Consultants Asia Limited (Maunsell) was the consultant firm which supervised the foundation works.
The project developer had paid I-P Foundations approximately $42 million for carrying out the foundation works.
I-P Foundations and Maunsell had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ian McWalters, assisted by ICAC officer Simon Ho.
Li Che-hing, 51, former project manager of I-P Foundations Ltd. (I-P Foundations), had his sentence increased from 21 months' to five years' imprisonment, while the company's former site agent Ko Chi-kwong, 43, had his original six-month term increased to four-and-a-half years.
Yu Chun-man, 29, former site engineer of I-P Foundations, had his custodial sentence increased by three months to 24 months.
The application by the Department of Justice was earlier heard before Acting Chief Judge Mr Justice Mayo, Mr Justices Leong and Stock.
In delivering judgment today, Mr Justice Mayo said "this was a very serious offence which carries a maximum of 14 years imprisonment".
"What is involved is a major public safety issue. The failure to comply with the necessary requirements almost inevitably will subject any buildings erected on the site to the grave hazard that they might collapse and thus cause loss of life and severe i njuries to the occupants of the building," he said.
"The number of people placed at risk could run into the hundreds. This is to say nothing of the cost of effecting remedial measures to rectify the failure to comply with the necessary requirements.”
The Acting Chief Judge noted that for any party who was mainly responsible for making the decision to engage in such a scheme and ordered subordinates to go along with the deceptions, a starting point of about 10 years' imprisonment would be in no way exc essive.
He also said the Court of Appeal had accepted that Yu was entitled to a substantial discount for his plea on account of his giving evidence for the prosecution, and the 50% discount given by the trial judge was appropriate.
An ICAC spokesman today welcomes the Court of Appeal's ruling.
"It sends a strong and clear message to the community that corruption in construction works, which may cause massive devastation and put many people's lives at risk, will not be tolerated and the offenders will be severely punished," the spokesman said.
Li and Ko were found guilty of one count of conspiring with Yu, I-P Foundations staff David Hendy, Carl Voigt and others to defraud the Buildings Department and the project developer Tung Chung Station Development Company Limited (the project developer) o ver the piling works at the project between July 1, 1997 and April 30, 1998.
Yu pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge.
The trio were found to have constructed the bored piles not in accordance with the site plan approved by the Buildings Department, and falsely representing full compliance.
The court heard that amongst the 76 bored piles constructed, 66 were shortened by 0.54 metres to about 19 metres.
They had also caused the Building Authority to consent to the commencement of pile cap construction and the developer to pay for the substandard piling works.
I-P Foundations was the main contractor of the foundation work for blocks H1 to H4 of the project. The piling works for blocks H1, H3 and H4 was sub-contracted to Sunley Engineering & Construction Company Limited.
Maunsell Consultants Asia Limited (Maunsell) was the consultant firm which supervised the foundation works.
The project developer had paid I-P Foundations approximately $42 million for carrying out the foundation works.
I-P Foundations and Maunsell had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ian McWalters, assisted by ICAC officer Simon Ho.