Two football players and a betting agent, charged by the ICAC following Operation “Green Grass” which neutralised a corruption syndicate linked to football match-fixing and illegal gambling, were today (May 8) convicted at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts of bribing football players to rig match results for three clubs participating in the Hong Kong Premier League (HK Premier League) and the First Division of Hong Kong (HK First Division) across two seasons between 2021 and 2023, thereby enabling syndicate members to profit from illegal gambling.

One of the two property vendors, charged by the ICAC for offering a $30,000 bribe to an estate agent for waiving a $155,000 agency commission in relation to the sale of a residential property, was sentenced today (May 8) after entering a guilty plea at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts.

A former Principal Manager of the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), charged by the ICAC, was earlier sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to accepting bribes of about $3.3 million and laundering several million dollars in crime proceeds regarding sub-contracts of the Three-Runway System Project (3RS Project) at the Hong Kong International Airport. The District Court today (May 7) ordered the confiscation of crime proceeds totalling about $6 million from the former Principal Manager.

A then chairman of a listed company, charged by the ICAC, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment at the District Court today (May 7) for deceiving the company into paying about $2.4 million by inflating the first registration tax on a saloon.

A works contractor and his employee, charged by the ICAC, were both sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts today (May 6) after being convicted of offering over $180,000 in bribes to an employee of a design consultancy to secure renovation projects for two Japanese chain stores valued at over $25 million in total. The design consultancy’s employee, who pleaded guilty, was earlier sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

Last week (April 27 and 28), the ICAC conducted an enforcement action against a corruption syndicate specifically targeting grand maintenance projects of single-block buildings, arresting five men and two women, aged between 37 and 75, including the chairman of an Incorporated Owners (IO), the proprietor of a project contractor, and directors of a project consultancy firm and a registered inspector employed by the firm.

Following a corruption complaint referred by the Fire Services Department (FSD), an ICAC investigation revealed that a Senior Fireman borrowed a total of approximately $250,000 from four colleagues and a friend on the pretext that his father had been diagnosed with cancer. The defendant was today (May 5) sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts.

A Senior Inspector of Police (SIP), charged by the ICAC, was today (May 5) sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts for accepting an unauthorised loan of $10,000 from a subordinate Police Constable (PC), and deceiving another SIP into lending him $130,000 on the pretext that a bank had called his mortgage loan.

A former employee of a property management company, charged by the ICAC, today (May 4) admitted at the District Court that he had accepted bribes totalling $1.3 million from a renovation works contractor for showing favour to the latter regarding property renovation works.

A then Instructor of the Hong Kong Institute of Construction (HKIC) and his friend appeared today (May 4) at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts for mention after being charged by the ICAC for allegedly concealing that a materials supplier was controlled by them to mislead their respective employers to secure purchase orders in procurement processes.