A director of a superstructure main contractor for a Housing Department (HD)'s construction project in Tung Chung was today (Thursday) charged by the ICAC for alleged conspiracy to defraud over the use of reinforcement steel bars in the project.

The $761 million Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) project at Tung Chung Area 30 Phase 3 comprises four HOS blocks.

Fung Tin-tai, 43, director of Cheung Kee Fung Cheung Construction Company Limited (Cheung Kee), will appear at Tsuen Wan Court at 9:30 am tomorrow (Friday) on three charges of conspiracy to defraud.

The case arose from a corruption complaint alleging that some HD site staff might have accepted advantages from the main contractor and its subcontractors for allowing the use of non-compliant building materials at the above site.

Six persons, including Fung Tin-tai, were arrested in an ICAC operation in May last year.

Fung faces three counts of conspiring with Chan Fung, Chow Che-wai, Lee Hing-tong, Lo Yue-hang, Wong Ying-fat and So Lai-heung to defraud HD between January and May 1999.

She was alleged to have conspired with these people to submit false documents to HD purporting to satisfy HD that five specified batches of reinforcement steel bars had all been removed from the construction site at Tung Chung Area 30 Phase 3.

Chan Fung and Chow Che-wai, respectively former Quality Control Engineer and Project Manager of Cheung Kee, were earlier charged with similar offences and are pending trial.

Meanwhile, Fung Tin-tai has been granted bail by the ICAC, pending her court appearance tomorrow.