Three village heads were charged last night with accepting bribes from the chairman of the Yuen Long District Board ahead of a rural committee election in March. An ICAC statement did not say whether chairman Tai Kuen, who heads the listed property company Gold-Face Holdings, would be charged. Tai was one of 27 people arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday. The trio charged includes village representative Wong Wah-cheong, 70, who faces one count of agreeing to accept $200,000 from Tai on March 11. The bribe was allegedly aimed at securing Wong's vote for Tai in the Shap Pat Heung rural committee election on March 29. Wu Wai-hung, 46, an executive committee member, was charged with agreeing to accept from Tai a flight to Singapore and hotel accommodation between March 12 and 23, also allegedly on the understanding he would vote for Tai. Another village representative, Ng Kam-chuen, 73, was charged with accepting from Tai a ticket to Macau and hotel accommodation between March 11 and 27. Ng allegedly voted for Tai, Lam Chiu-kuen and Ching Chan-ming in the election in return. Tai won the election. The heads of rural committees automatically become members of their area's district board. Wu and Ng are due to appear in Tuen Mun Court this morning while Wong is due to be brought before the same court on Monday. Wu and Ng were remanded in ICAC custody last night. The remainder, including Wong and Tai, were released on bail. An ICAC spokesman said the decision on the charges was based on advice from the Department of Justice. The agency did not rule out the possibility more people would be charged later. A Stock Exchange spokeswoman said it had asked for details of the case. Gold-Face said last night that the allegations against Tai were unrelated to the company. The share price of the company closed 0.2 cents down at 75 cents yesterday. Tai started developing homes in Yuen Long in the 1950s and acquired a land bank in excess of 37,200 square feet by inheritance or through private deals. He started developing six-storey commercial-residential buildings in Yuen Long in the 1970s. His company listed on the stock market in 1993 after expanding into larger-scale development projects during the 1980s and 1990s. He was made a Member of the British Empire before the handover. Last year, he was awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star for his distinguished public and community services in the New Territories.