A hostel manager was charged by the ICAC yesterday (June 17) for allegedly stealing payments of over $900,000 by altering booking records of the hostel on various occasions over a span of two years and covering up his misappropriation by making false representation that a group client owed payments to the hostel.

Eight Principal Hawker Control Officers (PHCOs) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), charged by the ICAC with misconduct in public office (MIPO), were today (June 17) sentenced to community service orders ranging from 150 to 240 hours at the District Court for compiling a “buddy” list to show preferential treatments to certain candidates of the 2019 Recruitment of Assistant Hawker Control Officer (AHCO Recruitment 2019) without following the civil servants appointment policy.

ICAC Commissioner Mr Woo Ying-ming today (June 16) commenced a duty visit to Beijing and Shaanxi to exchange the latest on graft-fighting work with Mainland anti-corruption authorities.

An ICAC corruption investigation earlier revealed that an assistant manager of an insurance company had recruited dummy agents to defraud the insurer of commissions and payments totalling about $4.6 million, by taking out insurance policies with false particulars, while three downline dummy agents assisted in handling crime proceeds of over $2.3 million. The four defendants were today (June 11) sentenced at the District Court to jail terms from 12 months to 32 months.

A former marketing manager of a beverage company, charged by the ICAC and convicted after trial, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment today (June 10) at the District Court for deceiving the company into awarding various outdoor advertisement purchase orders worth totalling about $1.9 million by concealing his control of a vendor, and conspiring with a subordinate to use false quotations and inspection reports to mislead the company. The convicted defendant was confiscated $600,000 in crime proceeds.

A then manager of a company, charged by the ICAC and convicted after trial of soliciting a bribe of $2 million to $3 million from a business partner for assisting the latter to resolve a business dispute between the two companies on terms most favourable to the partner, was today (June 10) sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts.

A former part-time lecturer of the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) was charged by the ICAC today (June 9) for allegedly taking a bribe of $20,000 for securing a passing grade for a student in his final year project.

A foreman of a subcontractor of the Terminal 2 expansion works of the Hong Kong International Airport, charged by the ICAC, was today (June 9) sentenced to three months’ imprisonment at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts for soliciting and accepting bribes totalling about $16,000 from three bar-benders for assisting them to continue their employment and assigning overtime work to one of them to earn extra payments.

The ICAC had earlier charged two former bank managers for allegedly conspiring with an employee of a fintech company to use various false standby letters of credit (L/Cs) and collateral letters. Pursuant to the further legal advice of the Department of Justice upon completion of investigation by the ICAC, an additional bribery charge was laid against one of the duo while the indictment in relation to the two counts of conspiracy to use false instruments were amended when the case was brought to the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts for mention today (June 5). The additional charge alleged that the defendant had accepted cryptocurrency worth over US$470,000 from the fintech company employee, a middleman and others for authenticating false instruments. The case will be transferred to the District Court.

A then Assistant Officer of the Correctional Services Department (CSD), charged by the ICAC, was today (June 5) sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts for deceiving the Correctional Services Department Credit Union (CSDCU) and three financial institutions into granting him loans totalling over $890,000 in a span of three years by concealing his personal outstanding liabilities.