HKU Associate Professor among four charged by ICAC for allegedly accepting $2.2m over IT education projects
2026-8-21
The ICAC charged an Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) yesterday (August 20) for allegedly accepting bribes totalling approximately $2.2 million in cash from a service provider to award seven purchase orders exceeding $10 million for Information Technology (IT) education projects targeting primary and secondary schools. The Associate Professor, along with the service provider, his wife and his nephew, was also charged with suspected fraud regarding HKU’s service fees.
The four defendants are Gary Wong Ka-wai, 45, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, HKU; Huen Man-ho, 56, sole director-cum-shareholder of Koding Kingdom (Hong Kong) Limited (Koding Kingdom) and Immersive Learning Lab Company Limited (Immersive Learning); and Huen’s wife, Joel Chu Wai-yi, and his nephew, Cheung Chun, aged 57 and 26, respectively.
Wong and Huen face nine counts of conspiracy for a public servant to accept advantages, contrary to section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. The four defendants further face two counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.
They were released on bail while the case is scheduled for mention at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts next Monday (August 24). The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for plea.
The alleged offences took place between August 2023 and June 2026. At the material time, Wong, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education of HKU, also served as Director of the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE). His duties included promoting the use of IT in education by utilising grants from funding bodies such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and the government’s Quality Education Fund, in accordance with HKU’s procurement procedures.
The bribery charges allege that Wong and Huen conspired together for Wong to accept cash bribes totalling about $2.2 million for awarding seven purchase orders for IT education projects to two companies owned by Huen, Immersive Learning or Koding Kingdom, or for being favorably disposed to Huen or these two companies during the tender exercise for the projects; and arranging Huen’s wife, Chu, his nephew, Cheung, and five other people to be employed by HKU.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wong and Huen had agreed that Wong would receive a reward of 10 per cent to 50 per cent of the purchase order value upon awarding of the projects. The total value of the purchase orders exceeded $10 million.
The IT education projects included “Enhancing Literacy Education with Artificial Reality Neo-platform 2.0” (eLEARN2.0), a virtual reality e-learning platform for primary schools developed by CITE, and the “YouthTech Project”, a digital initiative for senior secondary students funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The fraud charges allege that the four defendants falsely represented to HKU that Chu and Cheung had provided research services to CITE as stated in the service agreements, and induced HKU to pay service fees totalling $120,000 to them. However, ICAC enquiries revealed that the two defendants had never provided such services.
HKU and CITE rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The four defendants are Gary Wong Ka-wai, 45, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, HKU; Huen Man-ho, 56, sole director-cum-shareholder of Koding Kingdom (Hong Kong) Limited (Koding Kingdom) and Immersive Learning Lab Company Limited (Immersive Learning); and Huen’s wife, Joel Chu Wai-yi, and his nephew, Cheung Chun, aged 57 and 26, respectively.
Wong and Huen face nine counts of conspiracy for a public servant to accept advantages, contrary to section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. The four defendants further face two counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.
They were released on bail while the case is scheduled for mention at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts next Monday (August 24). The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for plea.
The alleged offences took place between August 2023 and June 2026. At the material time, Wong, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education of HKU, also served as Director of the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE). His duties included promoting the use of IT in education by utilising grants from funding bodies such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and the government’s Quality Education Fund, in accordance with HKU’s procurement procedures.
The bribery charges allege that Wong and Huen conspired together for Wong to accept cash bribes totalling about $2.2 million for awarding seven purchase orders for IT education projects to two companies owned by Huen, Immersive Learning or Koding Kingdom, or for being favorably disposed to Huen or these two companies during the tender exercise for the projects; and arranging Huen’s wife, Chu, his nephew, Cheung, and five other people to be employed by HKU.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wong and Huen had agreed that Wong would receive a reward of 10 per cent to 50 per cent of the purchase order value upon awarding of the projects. The total value of the purchase orders exceeded $10 million.
The IT education projects included “Enhancing Literacy Education with Artificial Reality Neo-platform 2.0” (eLEARN2.0), a virtual reality e-learning platform for primary schools developed by CITE, and the “YouthTech Project”, a digital initiative for senior secondary students funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The fraud charges allege that the four defendants falsely represented to HKU that Chu and Cheung had provided research services to CITE as stated in the service agreements, and induced HKU to pay service fees totalling $120,000 to them. However, ICAC enquiries revealed that the two defendants had never provided such services.
HKU and CITE rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.