Hong Kong went through ups and downs in 2022, having treaded through the fifth wave of the epidemic in the first half of the year and gradually returned to normalcy as the border between Mainland and Hong Kong fully reopened. In 2022, the ICAC remained steadfast and continued to enforce the law rigorously. Apart from discharging its anti-corruption duties, the Commission also strived to prevent criminals from endangering national security through illegal acts facilitated by corrupt means. As ever, the ICAC is committed to maintaining Hong Kong as a corruption-free and competitive economy, as well as one of the cleanest places in the world.

A customer of a bank was charged by the ICAC today (March 1) with offering a bribe of $1,000 to a relationship manager of the bank for assisting him in redeeming his unit trust fund.

A Chief Customs Officer of the Customs and Excise Department (C&E), charged by the ICAC, was today (March 1) sentenced to 240 hours of community service at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts for defrauding the Government of housing allowance totalling over $160,000 by making false representations about his compliance of the relevant live-in requirement. The offence was revealed in the course of a corruption investigation by the ICAC.

Following the reopening of borders between Hong Kong, Mainland and Macao, the Commissioner of Macao Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) Mr Chan Tsz-king led a delegation to visit the Hong Kong ICAC headquarters today (February 28) and met with Commissioner Mr Woo Ying-ming to exchange views on anti-corruption initiatives.

In the course of a corruption investigation by the ICAC, it was revealed that an insurance agent and his wife had allegedly overstated the wife’s monthly income to deceive the insurer, for which the husband was working, into underwriting a policy for her and releasing commissions and a performance allowance totalling about $490,000 to the husband. The married couple was charged by the ICAC with fraud today (February 28).

A former clerk of a stationery company was charged by the ICAC last Friday (February 24) for allegedly deceiving the company into purchasing raw materials at $7.2 million from a supplier by using false quotations to falsely represent that the supplier’s quotations were the lowest. The offence was revealed in the course of a corruption investigation by the Commission.

A Police Sergeant, charged by the ICAC, was today (February 25) convicted at the District Court of accepting a bribe of $500,000 for assisting a businessman over an investigation regarding a debt collection matter involving a triad society.

A former marketing manager of a beverage company was charged by the ICAC yesterday (February 22) for allegedly deceiving the company into awarding various outdoor advertisement purchase orders worth totalling about $1.9 million to a vendor by concealing that the latter was controlled by him. The former manager and a subordinate also allegedly used a number of false quotations and outdoor advertisement inspection reports to mislead the company.

A candidate of the commercial vehicle driving test for medium goods vehicle, charged by the ICAC, was today (February 23) sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts after admitting that he had offered a bribe of $500 to an examiner of the Transport Department (TD) to get a pass after making a mistake in the test.

A former director of a construction company was arrested and charged by the ICAC today (February 23) upon his arrival in Hong Kong following the prosecution of two former senior executives of construction companies and others for defrauding a bank of $75.3 million letters of credit (L/Cs).