Supermarket managers jailed for defrauding customers over chicken meat sale
2002-9-13
Two managers of a supermarket, charged by the ICAC, were today (Friday) given jail sentences at Eastern Magistracy for conspiring to defraud customers over the place of origin of meat products being sold at the supermarket.
Tong Chung-wai, 49, manager of the meat department at the Hong Kong Parkview Branch of Park'n Shop, and Lai Chi-wai, 33, store manager of the Park'n Shop's branch, were respectively sentenced to 16 weeks and 27 weeks in jail.
Tong and Lai were jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud between December 1, 2000 and June 7, 2001. Tong had earlier pleaded guilty, while Lai was found guilty today.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr William Ng said the offence committed by the defendants had breached the trust place in them by their employer, and was detrimental to the interests of the public.
The case arose from a corruption complaint that some staff of a supermarket might have bribed their colleagues for conniving at the false representation over the place of origin and false sales turnover of the chicken meat.
Subsequent investigations revealed the fraud, while the original corruption allegation was found to be unsubstantiated.
The court heard that since December 2000, Tong had instructed his assistants to remove the wrapping and price labels of the individual packs of refrigerated chicken fillet prepared by the distribution centre.
The price labels of these packs showed that the place of origin of the meat was China and the retailing price was $13.9 per pack.
Tong also instructed his assistants to re-pack the meat with a new price label, falsely representing that the place of origin of the meat was Brazil at an inflated retailing price ranging from $21.2 to $30.2 per pack. The re-packed meat was put on sale t o customers.
Lai, who took over as store manager of the branch in April 2001, instructed Tong to continue the practice.
ICAC investigations confirmed that no chicken fillet from Brazil had been delivered to the branch at the time of the offence.
The Park'n Shop also confirmed that Tong and Lai were not authorised to change the trade description or to inflate the retailing price.
The prosecution was today represented by Lisa Remedios on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Tang Chi-kong.
Tong Chung-wai, 49, manager of the meat department at the Hong Kong Parkview Branch of Park'n Shop, and Lai Chi-wai, 33, store manager of the Park'n Shop's branch, were respectively sentenced to 16 weeks and 27 weeks in jail.
Tong and Lai were jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud between December 1, 2000 and June 7, 2001. Tong had earlier pleaded guilty, while Lai was found guilty today.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr William Ng said the offence committed by the defendants had breached the trust place in them by their employer, and was detrimental to the interests of the public.
The case arose from a corruption complaint that some staff of a supermarket might have bribed their colleagues for conniving at the false representation over the place of origin and false sales turnover of the chicken meat.
Subsequent investigations revealed the fraud, while the original corruption allegation was found to be unsubstantiated.
The court heard that since December 2000, Tong had instructed his assistants to remove the wrapping and price labels of the individual packs of refrigerated chicken fillet prepared by the distribution centre.
The price labels of these packs showed that the place of origin of the meat was China and the retailing price was $13.9 per pack.
Tong also instructed his assistants to re-pack the meat with a new price label, falsely representing that the place of origin of the meat was Brazil at an inflated retailing price ranging from $21.2 to $30.2 per pack. The re-packed meat was put on sale t o customers.
Lai, who took over as store manager of the branch in April 2001, instructed Tong to continue the practice.
ICAC investigations confirmed that no chicken fillet from Brazil had been delivered to the branch at the time of the offence.
The Park'n Shop also confirmed that Tong and Lai were not authorised to change the trade description or to inflate the retailing price.
The prosecution was today represented by Lisa Remedios on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Tang Chi-kong.