ICAC - Dark Side of the Coin - Bus Driver Corruption & Theft Case

It is the statutory duty of ICAC’s Corruption Prevention Department to study the control systems and operational procedures of public bodies. After the CMB saga came to light, the Department set out to study the company’s bus fare collection and coin handling procedures. According to Samuel Hui, then the Assistant Director of Corruption Prevention Department and was the assignment officer responsible for the study, the public was extremely shocked with the theft scam. After an in-depth examination of the relevant procedures, he concluded that management controls were lax and loopholes were aplenty. Wide-ranging improvement measures were recommended, covering the storage and safe custody of fare box keys, coin counting and accounting procedures, the design of the record cards, the custody of staff uniform, floor plans of the coin counting room and cashier office, not the least the installation of closed circuit televisions and monitors. CMB undertook to consider all the recommended measures.

Greed Never Dies

Having all the improvement recommendations at hand was one thing, whether CMB would effectively put them in place was another.

Following the completion of a corruption prevention study, Samuel Hui said the Corruption Prevention Department would as a matter of policy assist the concerned public body to implement the improvement recommendations and review their effectiveness at a later stage. Before the time was up for a review, Samuel Hui was disturbed to learn that CMB had been inflicted with similar crime.

In 1987, the ICAC arrested 38 CMB drivers and ex-drivers for allegedly offering bribes to duty allocation officers, in return for the alteration of leave schedules, duty rosters and the allocation of preferential routes. Twenty of them were subsequently found guilty. The plot employed was identical to the one in 1981.

Again in 1990, ICAC received reports of CMB drivers accepting bribes for letting a criminal syndicate steal coins from fare boxes. A total of 19 persons, including 16 serving drivers, were arrested and prosecuted for theft.

A Man of Faith

The CMB scam did not end with the completion of all trials. Hans Wong learnt that a CMB driver, who stood his ground and refused to become a party to the scam, had suffered from mental disorder owing to a long period of stress and tension. A fiery sense of indignation at the evil of corruption firmed up Hans Wong’s mind to a graft-fighting career. “I was then in my 20s and unsophisticated in life. Investigation work was tough. The notion of having to deal with bad guys everyday was not pleasing. I was struggling whether to go on. Yet when I saw it with my own eyes that the bad guys were shameless and decent men were bashed and abused, I talked to myself that somebody had to do the job, to uphold the law and fight the criminals.” This faith has since sustained Hans Wong over the past 20-odd years in his battle with the corrupt and the fraudulent. Looking back, he is glad to have made a choice that he would never regret.

Sound bite of Hans Wong
(in Cantonese only)

“Law enforcement work is tough, but if I quit, and if everybody quits, what about those informers or complainants who are beaten up. It is so pathetic. Once I saw a complainant walking in with a bandaged leg and on crutches, with his chest bruised and swollen. I simply cannot stand such a heartbreaking sight… the villains hold no regard for the law. I say to myself this is not right… I have to stick to my principle… the community needs somebody to do the job, if no one does it, the society will just get worse and worse.”