First ICAC bid-rigging trial opens over Kwun Tong works
Bastillepost · 2 SOURCESabout 6 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said a corruption-linked bid-rigging syndicate uncovered in its 2023 “Fire Net” operation led to charges against 23 people in September that year, and the prosecution has now been divided into five District Court cases to be heard from November onward. The first case opens on Wednesday, November 11, and concerns roughly HK$20 million in major maintenance works at Hing Tat Building in Kwun Tong. According to the ICAC, the wider prosecution covers 16 residential and commercial building maintenance projects with contracts worth about HK$520 million and alleged bribes exceeding HK$6.5 million. Those charged include engineering consultants, contractors, owners’ corporation or management committee members, middlemen and property management staff.
Key Points
- The first of five split cases will be heard in the District Court on Wednesday, November 11, after the ICAC charged 23 people in September 2023.
- The opening case involves Hing Tat Building in Kwun Tong and about HK$20 million in major maintenance works, according to the ICAC
- Five defendants are named in the first trial: middlemen Chong Chung-to (莊聰圖), Lam Suet-bin (林雪邊), To Hon-sum (杜漢森), former owners’ corporation chairman Cheung Kin-wa (張建華), and former member Nim Ching-bo (粘清波)
- The charges in the first case include two counts of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent, with alleged bribes totaling about HK$2 million
- The ICAC said the alleged payments were meant to secure the building’s major maintenance contract and a property management contract, including 10% of the maintenance contract value
Why It Matters
For flat owners and owners’ corporations in Hong Kong, the case focuses attention on how large repair tenders and management contracts can be manipulated when intermediaries, contractors and building representatives allegedly work together. The ICAC also says multiple enforcement actions since 2023 have led to more than 200 arrests, 35 prosecutions and charges against two companies across nine cases, while stopping the award of contracts worth more than HK$500 million.