A man employed by an accounting firm as an accountant, who was caught red-handed accepting bribes from shop tenants, failed to have his guilty plea reversed at Eastern Court this (Tuesday) morning.

David Sak Ka-ming, 43, of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte), pleaded guilty to five corruption offences last Saturday morning, but subsequently applied for a reversal of plea after the court ordered to remand him in the custody of the Correctional Servi ces Department.

In dismissing his application, Magistrate Mr Henry Mierczak said there was no ground for Sak to change his guilty plea since he understood the charges laid against him in admission.

The magistrate adjourned sentencing Sak until October 22, pending a background report, and ordered to continue to remand him in the jail custody.

The case came to light after a corruption complaint was made to the ICAC last Wednesday (October 3).

An ambush operation was mounted the following evening, where the defendant was caught red handed after collecting $3,600 in bribes from two tenants.

The court heard that Sak, employed by Deloitte as an accountant, was responsible for renewing the leases of the shop premises at the New Trend Plaza, North Point.

On October 3, Sak approached Yip Ching, Cheung Yuk-wah and Tsang Wai-ying, tenants of the shopping mall, for negotiations of their renewal of leases.

The defendant solicited $5,900 in total from the three tenants for assisting them in negotiating favourable terms in the renewal of leases for their shop premises at the mall.

Deloitte does not allow its employees to solicit or accept any personal advantages in relation to its affairs or business.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Frederick Chung, assisted by ICAC officer Blanche Yiu.