Company directors in court for bribery over standby L/C
2015-11-27
Two directors of a trading company appeared in the Eastern Magistracy today (Friday) after being charged by the ICAC with conspiracy to offer a monthly bribe of $10,000 to a vice president of a bank in relation to the acceptance of a standby letter of credit (L/C).
Pan Shancheng, 53, and Huang Wei, 46, both directors of Tianhe International Commerce (China) Holdings Limited (Tianhe), who were charged on Wednesday (November 25), faced one joint charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
The defendants today pleaded not guilty to the charge. Principal Magistrate Ms Bina Chainrai adjourned the case to January 8 next year for a pre-trial review.
At the material time, the defendants were directors of Tianhe and authorised signatories of its account held with a bank, which accepted standby L/Cs from clients to be used as collateral for granting credit facilities to them.
The charge alleged that between May 12 and 28, 2015, the defendants conspired together, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, to offer $10,000 per month to a vice president of the bank as a reward for causing the bank to accept a standby L/C for Tianhe.
The defendants were granted cash bail. They were also ordered to surrender their travel documents, not to leave Hong Kong, reside at the reported addresses, and not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Eric Ng.
Pan Shancheng, 53, and Huang Wei, 46, both directors of Tianhe International Commerce (China) Holdings Limited (Tianhe), who were charged on Wednesday (November 25), faced one joint charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
The defendants today pleaded not guilty to the charge. Principal Magistrate Ms Bina Chainrai adjourned the case to January 8 next year for a pre-trial review.
At the material time, the defendants were directors of Tianhe and authorised signatories of its account held with a bank, which accepted standby L/Cs from clients to be used as collateral for granting credit facilities to them.
The charge alleged that between May 12 and 28, 2015, the defendants conspired together, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, to offer $10,000 per month to a vice president of the bank as a reward for causing the bank to accept a standby L/C for Tianhe.
The defendants were granted cash bail. They were also ordered to surrender their travel documents, not to leave Hong Kong, reside at the reported addresses, and not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Eric Ng.