Trio jailed for bribery and fraud over $9.2m purchase orders
2012-6-22
Three former executives of a printing company, charged by the ICAC, were today (Friday) sentenced to jail terms up to five and a half years at the District Court for their roles in bribery and fraud in relation to over $9.2 million worth of purchase order s for printing products.
Lam Wai-man, 51, former chief executive officer of Safe Power Industrial Limited (Safe Power), received a jail term of five and a half years, while Lee Tze-chiu, 42, former sales and marketing manager of Safe Power, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Wong Chi-keung, 56, former production manager of Safe Power, was jailed for one year, and ordered to pay over $128,000 as restitution to his former employer.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Adriana Noelle Tse said the court had to mete out custodial sentences to the defendants as the offences committed by them were serious and constituted a breach of trust.
The deputy judge added that the scams were premeditated and lasted a long period of time.
Lam and Lee were earlier convicted after trial of five counts of fraud. Lam alone was found guilty of one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(b) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO), while Wong was convicted of t wo counts of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the POBO.
The court heard that Safe Power was a supplier of printing products with its production line in Dongguan –'96 Safe Power Paper Processing Factory.
Lam joined Safe Power as chief executive officer in August 2005. Upon Lam’s recommendation, Safe Power employed Lee and Wong as sales and marketing manager and production manager respectively.
Since July 2006, Lam had approached clients of Safe Power to solicit business for Moral Team Asia Limited (Moral Team), a company controlled by him.
Between July 2006 and June 2008, Lam and Lee falsely represented to five clients of Safe Power that Moral Team and Safe Power were associated or related companies, the court heard.
With intent to defraud, Lam and Lee induced the five clients to place a total of 140 purchase orders for printing products worth over $9.2 million with Moral Team.
Moral Team subsequently procured those products from Safe Power at a lower cost. As a result, Moral Team earned price differences of over $1.2 million.
The court heard that in February 2009, Lam offered an advantage to a manager of another client of Safe Power to divert more purchase orders to Moral Team. But the offer was rejected by the manager.
Between February and November 2007, Wong accepted a total of over $128,000 from Lam as rewards for not disclosing to Safe Power the relationship between Lam and Moral Team, the court was told.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Juliana Chow, assisted by ICAC officer Kenny Tse.
Lam Wai-man, 51, former chief executive officer of Safe Power Industrial Limited (Safe Power), received a jail term of five and a half years, while Lee Tze-chiu, 42, former sales and marketing manager of Safe Power, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Wong Chi-keung, 56, former production manager of Safe Power, was jailed for one year, and ordered to pay over $128,000 as restitution to his former employer.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Adriana Noelle Tse said the court had to mete out custodial sentences to the defendants as the offences committed by them were serious and constituted a breach of trust.
The deputy judge added that the scams were premeditated and lasted a long period of time.
Lam and Lee were earlier convicted after trial of five counts of fraud. Lam alone was found guilty of one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(b) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO), while Wong was convicted of t wo counts of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the POBO.
The court heard that Safe Power was a supplier of printing products with its production line in Dongguan –'96 Safe Power Paper Processing Factory.
Lam joined Safe Power as chief executive officer in August 2005. Upon Lam’s recommendation, Safe Power employed Lee and Wong as sales and marketing manager and production manager respectively.
Since July 2006, Lam had approached clients of Safe Power to solicit business for Moral Team Asia Limited (Moral Team), a company controlled by him.
Between July 2006 and June 2008, Lam and Lee falsely represented to five clients of Safe Power that Moral Team and Safe Power were associated or related companies, the court heard.
With intent to defraud, Lam and Lee induced the five clients to place a total of 140 purchase orders for printing products worth over $9.2 million with Moral Team.
Moral Team subsequently procured those products from Safe Power at a lower cost. As a result, Moral Team earned price differences of over $1.2 million.
The court heard that in February 2009, Lam offered an advantage to a manager of another client of Safe Power to divert more purchase orders to Moral Team. But the offer was rejected by the manager.
Between February and November 2007, Wong accepted a total of over $128,000 from Lam as rewards for not disclosing to Safe Power the relationship between Lam and Moral Team, the court was told.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Juliana Chow, assisted by ICAC officer Kenny Tse.