The ICAC has charged a former chairman of an incorporated owners (IO) of a residential-cum-commercial building in Causeway Bay and his wife for allegedly deceiving the IO in relation to the leasing of a shop unit of the building.

Mo Yung Kwok-fai, 39, former chairman of IO of Hennessy Apartments (HA); and his wife, Cheung Pi-kwan, 44, face a joint charge of fraud; while Mo Yung alone further faces a similar charge.

They will appear at Eastern Magistracy at 9:30 am tomorrow (Friday).

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Inquiries revealed the alleged fraud offences.

Mo Yung is alleged to have falsely represented to a person, who had already paid a deposit to rent a shop unit of HA, that the said unit could not be leased to her due to an ICAC investigation.

The alleged offence took place in November 2005.

The joint charge alleges that between March 5 and June 12, 2006, Mo Yung and Cheung had concealed from the IO that the said shop unit had been leased to Birch Wealth Limited (BWL) at a monthly rental of $3,500.

They are also alleged to have failed to disclose to the IO that BWL had subsequently sub-leased the unit to another person at a monthly rental of $9,500.

ICAC investigations revealed that Mo Yung and Cheung were the actual owners of BWL and that Cheung was the sole authorised signatory of BWL’s bank account.

It is alleged that the defendants had dishonestly pocketed the rental differences, totalling $102,000, from May 2006 to September 2007.

The defendants are currently on ICAC bail, pending their court appearance tomorrow.