Two former bank staff admit bribery over banknotes with special numbers
2006-11-20
Two former employees of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOC Hong Kong), charged by the ICAC, today (Monday) admitted at Eastern Magistracy that they had accepted advantages from a colleague for helping the latter retrieve new banknotes bearing spec ial serial numbers.
Kan Hin-kuen, 34, a former cashier of BOC Hong Kong; and Tsui Tsz-tuen, 45, a former clerk of BOC Hong Kong, each pleaded guilty to one count of agent accepting an advantage under Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
Co-defendant Lee Muk-yiu, 46, a former clerk of BOC Hong Kong, earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the PBO.
Magistrate Mrs Adriana C. Tse adjourned the case until December 4 for sentence, and remanded the defendants in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that at the time of the offences, Lee and Tsui, who were employed by BOC Hong Kong as clerks at the pre-distribution unit of the bank's vault, were responsible for arranging and distributing banknotes to various branches of the bank, while Kan was a cashier at the Harbour Road branch.
On the instruction of Lee, Kan had, on a number of occasions, made requests for a particular amount of banknotes to be delivered to his branch. Lee would then arrange for banknotes bearing special serial numbers to be packaged in the bundles of banknotes.
When Kan received the ordered banknotes, he would unpack the bundles and replace those special banknotes with ordinary banknotes which Lee had earlier given to him.
After retrieving the special banknotes, Kan handed them to Lee.
The court heard that Lee had offered sums of money, ranging from several ten dollars to one thousand dollars, to Kan as rewards for Kan's assistance. Kan accepted about $5,000 in bribes from Lee.
Lee sold some of the special banknotes in the market at a price much higher than their face value. The total amount of special banknotes obtained through Kan was about $300,000.
The court heard that in order to facilitate the above scheme, Lee also sought the corrupt assistance from Tsui.
In December 2005, Lee, Kan and Tsui were arrested by ICAC officers.
When interviewed under caution by ICAC officers, Lee admitted having offered about $10,000 to Tsui, while Tsui admitted having accepted about $60,000 from Lee.
Subsequent search of Tsui's home recovered $32,770. Tsui confirmed that it was part of the corrupt payments he had received from Lee.
Lee's home was also searched, resulting in the recovery of 527 banknotes totalling $186,570. Lee admitted that 260 of them totalling $139,500 were obtained through the assistance of Kan.
BOC Hong Kong prohibits its employees from soliciting or accepting advantages in relation to its business.
The prosecution was today represented by a court prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Martin Tse.
Kan Hin-kuen, 34, a former cashier of BOC Hong Kong; and Tsui Tsz-tuen, 45, a former clerk of BOC Hong Kong, each pleaded guilty to one count of agent accepting an advantage under Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
Co-defendant Lee Muk-yiu, 46, a former clerk of BOC Hong Kong, earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the PBO.
Magistrate Mrs Adriana C. Tse adjourned the case until December 4 for sentence, and remanded the defendants in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that at the time of the offences, Lee and Tsui, who were employed by BOC Hong Kong as clerks at the pre-distribution unit of the bank's vault, were responsible for arranging and distributing banknotes to various branches of the bank, while Kan was a cashier at the Harbour Road branch.
On the instruction of Lee, Kan had, on a number of occasions, made requests for a particular amount of banknotes to be delivered to his branch. Lee would then arrange for banknotes bearing special serial numbers to be packaged in the bundles of banknotes.
When Kan received the ordered banknotes, he would unpack the bundles and replace those special banknotes with ordinary banknotes which Lee had earlier given to him.
After retrieving the special banknotes, Kan handed them to Lee.
The court heard that Lee had offered sums of money, ranging from several ten dollars to one thousand dollars, to Kan as rewards for Kan's assistance. Kan accepted about $5,000 in bribes from Lee.
Lee sold some of the special banknotes in the market at a price much higher than their face value. The total amount of special banknotes obtained through Kan was about $300,000.
The court heard that in order to facilitate the above scheme, Lee also sought the corrupt assistance from Tsui.
In December 2005, Lee, Kan and Tsui were arrested by ICAC officers.
When interviewed under caution by ICAC officers, Lee admitted having offered about $10,000 to Tsui, while Tsui admitted having accepted about $60,000 from Lee.
Subsequent search of Tsui's home recovered $32,770. Tsui confirmed that it was part of the corrupt payments he had received from Lee.
Lee's home was also searched, resulting in the recovery of 527 banknotes totalling $186,570. Lee admitted that 260 of them totalling $139,500 were obtained through the assistance of Kan.
BOC Hong Kong prohibits its employees from soliciting or accepting advantages in relation to its business.
The prosecution was today represented by a court prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Martin Tse.