Three years' jail for bribing KCRC manager to smuggle $11m cigarette materials to Mainland
2002-2-5
A company director was today (Tuesday) sentenced to three years' imprisonment at District Court for offering $360,000 in bribes to a former freight manager of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) to facilitate the smuggling of $11 million worth o f cigarette manufacturing materials to the Mainland.
Zhou Zhao-bin, 42, director of Quite Yam Development Limited, was earlier found guilty of two counts of offering an advantage to a public servant and one of conspiracy to export unmanifested cargo.
The court heard that Zhou was introduced to KCRC's former freight manager Leung Chiu-ming by Xu Sheng, the officer-in-charge of the Import Division of Shun Kong Customs Declaration Company (Shun Kong) in Shenzhen, when Xu visited Hong Kong in May 1999.
Shun Kong, a subsidiary of China Railway Corporation, was responsible for clearance of goods from Hong Kong.
Zhou and Xu had conspired to smuggle 12 wagons of tobacco leaves, cigarette papers and acetate tows, which were raw materials for manufacturing cigarette filters, from Hong Kong to the Mainland on three separate occasions on June 10, July 28 and August 29 , 1999. The value of the smuggled goods was estimated to be about $7.5 million.
The court was told that Leung had instructed his subordinates to declare the wagons loaded with the smuggled goods as empty in order to evade clearance and inspection by customs officers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Zhou subsequently offered $300,000 and $60,000 in bribes to Leung on two separate occasions as rewards for Leung's assistance in freight smuggling activities.
On October 13, 1999, Zhou and Xu attempted to smuggle four wagons of acetate tows on board a train, but the train was intercepted by ICAC officers when it was about to depart Lo Wu for Shenzhen.
The seized acetate tows, worth about $3.5 million, were confirmed by the Customs and Excise Department to be unmanifested cargoes.
Leung, 57, was jailed for four years in March 2000 for accepting bribes as a public servant, and had his appeal against conviction dismissed by the Court of Appeal in January last year.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Stanley Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Dominic Leung.
Zhou Zhao-bin, 42, director of Quite Yam Development Limited, was earlier found guilty of two counts of offering an advantage to a public servant and one of conspiracy to export unmanifested cargo.
The court heard that Zhou was introduced to KCRC's former freight manager Leung Chiu-ming by Xu Sheng, the officer-in-charge of the Import Division of Shun Kong Customs Declaration Company (Shun Kong) in Shenzhen, when Xu visited Hong Kong in May 1999.
Shun Kong, a subsidiary of China Railway Corporation, was responsible for clearance of goods from Hong Kong.
Zhou and Xu had conspired to smuggle 12 wagons of tobacco leaves, cigarette papers and acetate tows, which were raw materials for manufacturing cigarette filters, from Hong Kong to the Mainland on three separate occasions on June 10, July 28 and August 29 , 1999. The value of the smuggled goods was estimated to be about $7.5 million.
The court was told that Leung had instructed his subordinates to declare the wagons loaded with the smuggled goods as empty in order to evade clearance and inspection by customs officers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Zhou subsequently offered $300,000 and $60,000 in bribes to Leung on two separate occasions as rewards for Leung's assistance in freight smuggling activities.
On October 13, 1999, Zhou and Xu attempted to smuggle four wagons of acetate tows on board a train, but the train was intercepted by ICAC officers when it was about to depart Lo Wu for Shenzhen.
The seized acetate tows, worth about $3.5 million, were confirmed by the Customs and Excise Department to be unmanifested cargoes.
Leung, 57, was jailed for four years in March 2000 for accepting bribes as a public servant, and had his appeal against conviction dismissed by the Court of Appeal in January last year.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Stanley Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Dominic Leung.