A man was today (Wednesday) charged by the ICAC and appeared in court for allegedly obtaining cleaning contracts of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) by deceit.

Wong Siu-sing, 42, operator of A&T Service Company (A&T), pleaded not guilty to five counts of fraud at Eastern Magistracy this afternoon.

Magistrate Mr Ian Candy adjourned the case until November 2, 2005 for a pre-trial review.

Wong was granted bail of $30,000 in cash. He was also ordered not to leave Hong Kong, and not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.

The case arose from a corruption allegation. ICAC inquiries subsequently revealed the alleged fraud offences.

Inquiries revealed that at the time of the alleged offences, Johnson Cleaning Services Co. Ltd. (Johnson) was a FEHD cleaning contractor.

FEHD prohibits its contractors to sub-contract any part of a cleaning contract without the prior written approval of the Department.

The charges alleged Wong had by deceit, falsely represented that he was an employee of Johnson, and concealed from FEHD that five contracts awarded by the Department to Johnson had been sub-contracted to A&T.

Wong was alleged to have falsely represented that the above contracts were performed by Johnson, and induced FEHD officers not to take proper action against Johnson.

The alleged offences took place between January 2003 and February 2004.

The prosecution was today represented by Government Counsel Ned Lai, assisted by ICAC officer Howard Wong.