Contractor admits forgery in case involving Education Department officers charged with misconduct
2002-2-6
Two Principal Inspectors of the Education Department (ED), charged by the ICAC for alleged misconduct in public office over the awarding of production contracts in relation to various ED publications, appeared at Eastern Court today (Wednesday) together with a design contractor.
The two ED officers, Mimi Ho Mi-mi, 51, and Cheng Sai-man, 50, faced eight counts of misconduct in public office under the Common Law, one count of forgery, and eight alternative counts of false accounting.
No pleas were taken from them. Magistrate Mr Ian Candy adjourned their case to March 7, 2002 for mention.
Lau Ying-kit, 41, proprietor of CAX2 Limited (CAX2), a commercial design company, today pleaded guilty to seven counts of forgery by making false quotations of a number of companies to obtain $1,657,500 worth of ED's design and printing contracts.
The magistrate adjourned sentencing until completion of the trial of the other two defendants.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint alleging that the ED officers might have accepted bribes for awarding the department's printing contracts.
Ho alone faced four counts of misconduct in public office. The charges alleged her of having misconducted herself in the discharge of her duties by dishonestly doing a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest in respect of the award of Government contracts.
She was said to have circumvented the Government tendering process by:
- deciding, prior to obtaining quotations from tenderers, to award the contracts to CAX2;
- failing to comply with Government Stores and Procurement Regulations by not inviting competing tenderers to separately provide independent quotations;
- requesting the proprietor of CAX2 to provide other competing quotations;
- causing the contracts to be awarded to CAX2 knowing that there had not been a proper tender process; and
- deceiving her colleagues into believing that proper tender process had taken place.
Ho and Cheng were jointly charged with four similar offences under the Common Law.
Such contracts related to the design and production of CD-Roms and hard copies of various learning packages for primary students, and pamphlets on curriculum reforms for parents.
Ho and Cheng also faced one forgery charge which alleged them of having aided and abetted, counselled and procured Lau to make false quotations for the production of 10,000 copies of a pamphlet on Curriculum Reform for parents and the design of a relevant booklet.
They further faced eight alternative charges of false accounting.
They were said to have dishonestly falsified ED forms to purportedly represent that the tendering process in relation to various ED publications had been properly completed, and that the quotations listed on the forms were genuinely competitive tenders.
The alleged offences took place between October 1, 1998 and April 30, 2001.
Lau was granted cash bail of $2,000, while Ho and Cheng were each granted cash bail of $10,000. Ho and Cheng were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses, to reside in reported addresses, and to inform the ICAC of any change of addresses within 24 hours.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ian McWalters, assisted by ICAC officer Grace Yee.
The two ED officers, Mimi Ho Mi-mi, 51, and Cheng Sai-man, 50, faced eight counts of misconduct in public office under the Common Law, one count of forgery, and eight alternative counts of false accounting.
No pleas were taken from them. Magistrate Mr Ian Candy adjourned their case to March 7, 2002 for mention.
Lau Ying-kit, 41, proprietor of CAX2 Limited (CAX2), a commercial design company, today pleaded guilty to seven counts of forgery by making false quotations of a number of companies to obtain $1,657,500 worth of ED's design and printing contracts.
The magistrate adjourned sentencing until completion of the trial of the other two defendants.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint alleging that the ED officers might have accepted bribes for awarding the department's printing contracts.
Ho alone faced four counts of misconduct in public office. The charges alleged her of having misconducted herself in the discharge of her duties by dishonestly doing a series of acts calculated to injure the public interest in respect of the award of Government contracts.
She was said to have circumvented the Government tendering process by:
- deciding, prior to obtaining quotations from tenderers, to award the contracts to CAX2;
- failing to comply with Government Stores and Procurement Regulations by not inviting competing tenderers to separately provide independent quotations;
- requesting the proprietor of CAX2 to provide other competing quotations;
- causing the contracts to be awarded to CAX2 knowing that there had not been a proper tender process; and
- deceiving her colleagues into believing that proper tender process had taken place.
Ho and Cheng were jointly charged with four similar offences under the Common Law.
Such contracts related to the design and production of CD-Roms and hard copies of various learning packages for primary students, and pamphlets on curriculum reforms for parents.
Ho and Cheng also faced one forgery charge which alleged them of having aided and abetted, counselled and procured Lau to make false quotations for the production of 10,000 copies of a pamphlet on Curriculum Reform for parents and the design of a relevant booklet.
They further faced eight alternative charges of false accounting.
They were said to have dishonestly falsified ED forms to purportedly represent that the tendering process in relation to various ED publications had been properly completed, and that the quotations listed on the forms were genuinely competitive tenders.
The alleged offences took place between October 1, 1998 and April 30, 2001.
Lau was granted cash bail of $2,000, while Ho and Cheng were each granted cash bail of $10,000. Ho and Cheng were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses, to reside in reported addresses, and to inform the ICAC of any change of addresses within 24 hours.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ian McWalters, assisted by ICAC officer Grace Yee.