Eleven persons, including four Land Inspectors of the Lands Department (LD), were arrested by the ICAC in the past two days (Wednesday and Thursday) for their alleged corrupt involvement in a scam to deceive ex-gratia compensation, totalling $870,000, in relation to a land resumption project in the New Territories over "bogus graves".

The ICAC earlier received corruption reports alleging that a village representative might have offered advantages to a Land Inspector for assisting indigenous villagers to apply for ex-gratia compensation with "bogus graves".

Also arrested in the ICAC operation, code-named " Tiger Shark ", were a village representative (VR), and six villagers.

LD had earlier commenced a land resumption exercise in the New Territories for developing an expressway, and had identified a number of graves which were to be affected by the project and had to be removed.

Descendants of the relevant graves were then notified about application for ex-gratia compensation.

ICAC inquiries alleged that applications in relation to 22 graves submitted by the arrested villagers, and which had not been identified in LD's initial survey, were suspicious.

Subsequent exhumation by LD revealed that at least 10 of those graves were newly constructed but empty.

Inquiries alleged that the arrested VR might have conspired with the villagers to offer advantages to the Land Inspectors concerned for the latter's assistance in processing the suspected false claims.

As a result of the scam, about $870,000 of ex-gratia compensation was paid out to claimants of the 22 alleged "bogus graves".

The Lands Department has rendered full assistance to the ICAC's investigation.

The arrestees have been released on ICAC bail. Inquiries are continuing.