Chief Building Services Engineer gets seven years for $3m bribery
2004-1-5
A Chief Building Services Engineer of the Housing Department (HD), charged by the ICAC, was today (Monday) sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for accepting $3 million in bribes from contractors and suppliers.
The Court of First Instance also ordered Chan Kau-tai to pay the government a restitution of $2.6 million, being the bribe money he had accepted.
The court heard that the remaining $400,000 was another bribe payment Chan had agreed to accept from one of the contractors.
Chan, 58, was earlier found guilty by a jury of 10 counts of public servant accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 4(2) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee said the evidence against the defendant was overwhelming, while the defendant's testimony was unconvincing.
The judge also reprimanded the defendant for showing no remorse at all.
According to eight of the charges, Chan had accepted $2.4 million in total from a number of Housing Authority (HA) approved contractors and suppliers for rendering them assistance in relation to business transactions with the HA and/or HD, and their perfo rmance of works.
Another charge stated that Chan had agreed to accept $400,000 from one of the contractors for the same reason.
The remaining bribery charge stated that Chan had accepted $200,000 from an HA supplier for assisting the supplier's son in relation to his application for a government contract engineer post.
The offences took place between April 1999 and August 2001.
The prosecution was today represented by Acting Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Simon Tam, assisted by ICAC officer Nelson Lau.
The Court of First Instance also ordered Chan Kau-tai to pay the government a restitution of $2.6 million, being the bribe money he had accepted.
The court heard that the remaining $400,000 was another bribe payment Chan had agreed to accept from one of the contractors.
Chan, 58, was earlier found guilty by a jury of 10 counts of public servant accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 4(2) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee said the evidence against the defendant was overwhelming, while the defendant's testimony was unconvincing.
The judge also reprimanded the defendant for showing no remorse at all.
According to eight of the charges, Chan had accepted $2.4 million in total from a number of Housing Authority (HA) approved contractors and suppliers for rendering them assistance in relation to business transactions with the HA and/or HD, and their perfo rmance of works.
Another charge stated that Chan had agreed to accept $400,000 from one of the contractors for the same reason.
The remaining bribery charge stated that Chan had accepted $200,000 from an HA supplier for assisting the supplier's son in relation to his application for a government contract engineer post.
The offences took place between April 1999 and August 2001.
The prosecution was today represented by Acting Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Simon Tam, assisted by ICAC officer Nelson Lau.