Water supplier director pleads guilty in fake-water case
HK01 · 4 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
Xin Ding Xin Trading Company Limited and its sole director, Lui Tsz-chung (呂子聰), have admitted offences arising from the government “fake water” procurement scandal and a separate tender for rapid virus test kits. In the District Court on November 5, Lui pleaded guilty to seven charges across the two cases, while the company admitted four charges. Judge Alex Lee Kam-hung adjourned sentencing to December 30, and Lui was remanded after making no bail application. The bottled-water contract at the centre of the case had been worth HK$52.94 million over three years and was awarded after the company submitted the lowest conforming bid.
Key Points
- Prosecutors said Xin Ding Xin won the Government Logistics Department contract in June 2025 because its bid met requirements and was the lowest priced, for a three-year deal worth HK$52.94 million
- Lui had stated in the tender that the bottled water would be manufactured by Robust Guangzhou, under the Xinle/Robust brand, with supporting production and certification documents attached
- The first batch delivered to government departments from July 8 to August 3, 2025 totalled 3,208 bottles, but packaging named other manufacturers including Guanyinshan and Yangtaishan
- Lui later claimed heavy rain, flooding and landslides in Baiyun district had disrupted supply, sought approval to switch manufacturers, and submitted forged testing documents
- The government later terminated the contract, recovered the suspect water, bought replacement distilled water from AS Watson Group, and suffered losses of at least HK$2.03 million
Why It Matters
The case goes beyond a labelling dispute because it concerns how a government supplier secured a public contract and what happened after discrepancies were discovered in goods delivered to departments. It also links the bottled-water scandal to a separate attempted fraud involving a Department of Health tender, raising wider concerns about document verification in public procurement.