C&E officer gets 16 months for accepting bribes over restricted and staff movement information
2005-1-25
An officer of the Customs and Excise Department (C&E), charged by the ICAC, was today (Tuesday) sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for accepting bribes totalling $82,000 from a garment factory operator for providing restricted information on a number of textile companies under investigation, and staff duty rosters to facilitate the transporting of undeclared textile products across the border.
Ricky Len Sing-yan, 35, Assistant Trade Controls Officer of C&E, today pleaded guilty at District Court to two counts of conspiracy for a public servant to accept advantages, contrary to Section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 1 59A of the Crimes Ordinance.
Deputy Judge Kevin Browne reprimanded the defendant for jeopardizing the trade declaration and textiles export control systems of C&E.
Len was arrested by the ICAC during a corruption inquiry in September last year. C&E had provided full assistance to the ICAC during the investigation.
The court heard that on a number of occasions between October 2003 and August last year, a garment factory operator requested Len to ascertain whether six particular knitting companies were the subjects of investigation by the Trade and Industry Departmen t.
Len submitted 11 internal request forms to check the status of those companies.
Len accepted a total of $12,000 from the garment factory operator after informing the latter of the results of the checks.
The court also heard that Len was transferred to the Textiles Tactical Strike Unit (TTSU) of the Textiles Tactical Investigation Bureau of C&E in January last year.
TTSUs officers were required to conduct blitz checks on lorries conveying textile imports and exports via control points in Man Kam To, Lok Ma Chau and Sha Tau Kok.
The court heard that the garment factory operator asked Len to provide the duty rosters of TTSUs to facilitate the delivery of undeclared textile products to the Mainland.
In return, Len accepted monthly payments totalling about $70,000 from the garment factory operator between January and September last year as rewards.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Jonathan Man, assisted by ICAC officer Eric Ma.
Ricky Len Sing-yan, 35, Assistant Trade Controls Officer of C&E, today pleaded guilty at District Court to two counts of conspiracy for a public servant to accept advantages, contrary to Section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 1 59A of the Crimes Ordinance.
Deputy Judge Kevin Browne reprimanded the defendant for jeopardizing the trade declaration and textiles export control systems of C&E.
Len was arrested by the ICAC during a corruption inquiry in September last year. C&E had provided full assistance to the ICAC during the investigation.
The court heard that on a number of occasions between October 2003 and August last year, a garment factory operator requested Len to ascertain whether six particular knitting companies were the subjects of investigation by the Trade and Industry Departmen t.
Len submitted 11 internal request forms to check the status of those companies.
Len accepted a total of $12,000 from the garment factory operator after informing the latter of the results of the checks.
The court also heard that Len was transferred to the Textiles Tactical Strike Unit (TTSU) of the Textiles Tactical Investigation Bureau of C&E in January last year.
TTSUs officers were required to conduct blitz checks on lorries conveying textile imports and exports via control points in Man Kam To, Lok Ma Chau and Sha Tau Kok.
The court heard that the garment factory operator asked Len to provide the duty rosters of TTSUs to facilitate the delivery of undeclared textile products to the Mainland.
In return, Len accepted monthly payments totalling about $70,000 from the garment factory operator between January and September last year as rewards.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Jonathan Man, assisted by ICAC officer Eric Ma.