Contractor and engineer sent to jail for substandard piling
2000-10-27
A main contractor and a resident engineer were today (Friday) sent to jail for defrauding the developer of an industrial plant in Yuen Long by carrying out substandard foundation works at the site.
The $36 million construction project at the Yuen Long Industrial Estate, comprising a two-storey office building, a warehouse and a silo tower, was developed by Eastern Pretech (Hong Kong) Limited (Eastern Pretech).
Yeung Wai-keung, 31, director of Allied Dragon Engineering Company Limited (Allied Dragon), and Yu Tai-chi, 42, director of Geo Con Engineers (Geo Con), were respectively jailed for five years and four years.
The defendants were yesterday found guilty of conspiring with proprietor of Complete Engineering Wong Yuk-kui to defraud Eastern Pretech, by dishonestly not constructing the pre-bored piles in accordance with the plan approved by Buildings Department (BD) , between February and September, 1998.
As a result, Eastern Pretech was caused to approve and pay for substandard piling works.
District Court Judge Peter Line described the defendants as "greedy and dishonest".
In sentencing, the judge said that "there is an obvious need to deter those in the building industry minded to cheat in like fashion."
The judge also said while the case was obviously Yeung's scheme, who stood to make the most out of it, it could not have been done without the complicity of a dishonest resident engineer.
The judge noted that Yu, as a resident manager, had demonstrated a total disregard of his professional duty by allowing the contractors to practice their fraud in return for a bribe.
The judge reprimanded Yu for having acted in breach of the trust placed in him by those who employed him and in breach of the trust that the Buildings Department and the public rightly expect of professional men.
The ICAC investigation stemmed from a complaint alleging that the main contractor had offered bribes to a resident engineer for covering up sub-standard piling works.
Allied Dragon was the project's main contractor while the piling work, worth about $4.9 million, was sub-contracted to Complete Engineering Company (Complete Engineering) at a cost of $2 million. The piling was further subcontracted to Rich Wing Engineer ing Transportation Company (Rich Wing).
Geo Con was appointed a consultant overseeing the piling works.
The court heard that according to the building plan approved by BD, 17 bored piles, each measuring about 40 metres, should be constructed into the bedrock beneath the 38.6 metre high silo tower.
However, Yeung and subcontractor Wong Yuk-kui had agreed to use mainly driven piling to save costs.
Such driven piles subsequently constructed at the site, shorter than the prescribed length, were not embedded into the bedrock.
Yu, being fully aware of BD's requirements, had turned a blind eye to the non-compliance, and assisted Yeung to prepare false piling reports for submission to the Department.
Eastern Pretech subsequently awarded $4,962,570 to Allied Dragon for the defective piling.
Yeung was further convicted of five counts of using false reports on plate loading tests and one of falsifying invoices.
The court earlier issued a warrant for the arrest of Wong Yuk-kui, who failed to turn up in court in June this year to face charges in connection with this scam.
The judge yesterday also ordered the forfeiture of his $100,000 bail money.
The prosecution was today represented by John McLanachan on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Gary Wong.
The $36 million construction project at the Yuen Long Industrial Estate, comprising a two-storey office building, a warehouse and a silo tower, was developed by Eastern Pretech (Hong Kong) Limited (Eastern Pretech).
Yeung Wai-keung, 31, director of Allied Dragon Engineering Company Limited (Allied Dragon), and Yu Tai-chi, 42, director of Geo Con Engineers (Geo Con), were respectively jailed for five years and four years.
The defendants were yesterday found guilty of conspiring with proprietor of Complete Engineering Wong Yuk-kui to defraud Eastern Pretech, by dishonestly not constructing the pre-bored piles in accordance with the plan approved by Buildings Department (BD) , between February and September, 1998.
As a result, Eastern Pretech was caused to approve and pay for substandard piling works.
District Court Judge Peter Line described the defendants as "greedy and dishonest".
In sentencing, the judge said that "there is an obvious need to deter those in the building industry minded to cheat in like fashion."
The judge also said while the case was obviously Yeung's scheme, who stood to make the most out of it, it could not have been done without the complicity of a dishonest resident engineer.
The judge noted that Yu, as a resident manager, had demonstrated a total disregard of his professional duty by allowing the contractors to practice their fraud in return for a bribe.
The judge reprimanded Yu for having acted in breach of the trust placed in him by those who employed him and in breach of the trust that the Buildings Department and the public rightly expect of professional men.
The ICAC investigation stemmed from a complaint alleging that the main contractor had offered bribes to a resident engineer for covering up sub-standard piling works.
Allied Dragon was the project's main contractor while the piling work, worth about $4.9 million, was sub-contracted to Complete Engineering Company (Complete Engineering) at a cost of $2 million. The piling was further subcontracted to Rich Wing Engineer ing Transportation Company (Rich Wing).
Geo Con was appointed a consultant overseeing the piling works.
The court heard that according to the building plan approved by BD, 17 bored piles, each measuring about 40 metres, should be constructed into the bedrock beneath the 38.6 metre high silo tower.
However, Yeung and subcontractor Wong Yuk-kui had agreed to use mainly driven piling to save costs.
Such driven piles subsequently constructed at the site, shorter than the prescribed length, were not embedded into the bedrock.
Yu, being fully aware of BD's requirements, had turned a blind eye to the non-compliance, and assisted Yeung to prepare false piling reports for submission to the Department.
Eastern Pretech subsequently awarded $4,962,570 to Allied Dragon for the defective piling.
Yeung was further convicted of five counts of using false reports on plate loading tests and one of falsifying invoices.
The court earlier issued a warrant for the arrest of Wong Yuk-kui, who failed to turn up in court in June this year to face charges in connection with this scam.
The judge yesterday also ordered the forfeiture of his $100,000 bail money.
The prosecution was today represented by John McLanachan on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Gary Wong.