Contractor gets two years for conspiracy to defraud Mandarin Oriental over handover celebration job
2000-10-11
An engineering contractor was sentenced to two years behind bars at District Court today (Wednesday) for conspiring with a former hotel engineering manager to inflate job quotations for various projects at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, including the instal lation of equipment for the filming of the handover celebrations.
Wong Yiu-kuen, 44, proprietor of Wong Choy Decoration & Painting (Wong Choy), earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Limited (Mandarin Oriental) between April and May 1997. The court also ordered tw o other similar offences against Wong be left on file.
In sentencing, Judge Alan Wright said that there was no momentary inadvertence on the part of the defendant, but a settled intention to agree to carry out a scheme to defraud.
The judge said he had taken into account the defendant's guilty plea and clear record.
Wong Choy was frequently awarded contracts for work to be carried out at Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The court heard that Wong and Chan Chun-man, a former group engineering manager of Mandarin Oriental, had conspired to defraud the hotel group by inflating a quotation from $275,000 to $375,000 for the installation of equipment by Wong Choy at the hotel r oof to facilitate the filming of the handover celebrations in 1997.
Chan Chun-man, 40, was earlier ordered to serve a total of four years in prison for his role in this case and for conspiring to accept $1.1 million in illegal kickbacks to award $5 million worth of hotel contracts in a separate case.
The prosecution was today represented by Peter Callaghan on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Dickson Liang.
Wong Yiu-kuen, 44, proprietor of Wong Choy Decoration & Painting (Wong Choy), earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Limited (Mandarin Oriental) between April and May 1997. The court also ordered tw o other similar offences against Wong be left on file.
In sentencing, Judge Alan Wright said that there was no momentary inadvertence on the part of the defendant, but a settled intention to agree to carry out a scheme to defraud.
The judge said he had taken into account the defendant's guilty plea and clear record.
Wong Choy was frequently awarded contracts for work to be carried out at Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The court heard that Wong and Chan Chun-man, a former group engineering manager of Mandarin Oriental, had conspired to defraud the hotel group by inflating a quotation from $275,000 to $375,000 for the installation of equipment by Wong Choy at the hotel r oof to facilitate the filming of the handover celebrations in 1997.
Chan Chun-man, 40, was earlier ordered to serve a total of four years in prison for his role in this case and for conspiring to accept $1.1 million in illegal kickbacks to award $5 million worth of hotel contracts in a separate case.
The prosecution was today represented by Peter Callaghan on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Dickson Liang.