Six persons were today (Saturday) charged by the ICAC for allegedly conspiring to cheat the government over the rights of indigenous villagers to build small houses in the New Territories.

Wong Pit-wah, 30, warehouse keeper; Conway Wong Pit-man, 32, clerk; Wong Pit-chuen, 34, clerk; Wong Chi-chiu, 27, maintenance worker; Wong Chi-kwong, 31, roast meat worker; and Wong Siu-cheung, 28, hair stylist, will appear in Tuen Mun Magistracy at 9:30 am next Monday (May 13) on six counts of conspiracy to defraud.

The defendants were arrested by the ICAC in March this year during a corruption enquiry into a fraud.

Wong Pit-wah faces one count of conspiring with Lai King-wah and others to defraud the Yuen Long District Lands Office (DLO) of the Lands Department and its officers for the purpose of obtaining a licence for Wong Pit-wah to build a small house by dishone stly:

- falsely representing to DLO officers that Wong Pit-wah was an indigenous villager of Yuen Kong Tsuen;

- causing or permitting DLO officers to process the application of Wong Pit-wah for a licence; and

- causing DLO officers to grant Wong Pit-wah a licence.

Wong Pit-wah is jointly charged with each of the remaining five defendants for alleged conspiracy to defraud the Yuen Long DLO.

The five charges allege that they had conspired to falsely represent that the five defendants were indigenous villagers of Yuen Kong Tsuen, Shui Tsan Tin Tsuen or Ngau Keng Tsuen.

The defendants were allegedly offered monetary rewards ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 to act as an indigenous villager.

The alleged offences took place between January 1993 and March 2002.

All the defendants have been released on ICAC bail, pending their court appearances next Monday.