An Assistant Property Services Officer of the Architectural Services Department (ASD), charged by the ICAC for allegedly accepting unauthorised loans totalling $12,000 from a maintenance subcontractor, appeared in Kowloon City Court today (Thursday).

Lam Hung-wai, 34, today pleaded not guilty to three counts of accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 3 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

Magistrate Mr Ernest Lin adjourned the case until August 2 for a pre-trial review, and granted the defendant cash bail of $5,000.

Lam was responsible for supervising maintenance works at government properties in Tsimshatsui, while Sunspower Construction Limited (Sunspower) was the subcontractor of the relevant maintenance projects.

The case originated from a corruption complaint alleging that some ASD officers had accepted advantages from sub-contractors to cover up false claims on works done. ICAC enquiries revealed the alleged corruption offences.

The charges alleged that between January 1 and June 30 last year, Lam, without the general or special permission of the Chief Executive, had accepted three loans totalling about $12,000 from Yip Siu-tak, operator of Sunspower.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Joanne Tang.