A former chauffeur of an interior design company appeared in the Kwun Tong Magistracy today (November 18) after being charged by the ICAC with soliciting and accepting bribes totalling over $10,000 in relation to the sale of a sports car at an asking price of $1.3 million.

Franco Seto Kin-kwan, 53, former chauffeur of Legend Interiors Limited (Legend), who was charged on Wednesday (November 16), faced two charges – one of agent soliciting an advantage and one of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

No plea was taken today. Principal Magistrate Mr Ernest Lin Kam-hung adjourned the case to December 29 this year for plea.

At the material time, the defendant was employed by Legend as a chauffeur. Apart from driving, the defendant was also responsible for handling matters relating to vehicles owned by the director cum sole shareholder of Legend and his wife.

In early June 2014, the director cum sole shareholder of Legend assigned the defendant to follow up on the sale of a sports car at an asking price of $1.3 million.

One of the charges alleged that between June 3 and 19, 2014, the defendant, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, solicited a few thousand dollars from an employee of an associated firm of Glorious Motors Limited (GML) as a reward for making arrangement for the sale of the sports car to GML.

The other charge alleged that on June 23, 2014, the defendant, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, accepted $10,000 from another associated firm of GML as a reward for making arrangement for the sale of the sports car to GML.

The defendant was granted cash bail of $5,000. He was ordered not to leave Hong Kong and not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.

Legend had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Chris Chan.