A hotel engineer stole about $10,000 from a god-worshipping fund to which workers donated money to secure 'luck' at work, Eastern Court heard yesterday.
Pang Tat-man, 46, a senior engineer at Conrad International Hong Kong, pleaded not guilty to five counts of theft.
He was accused of stealing the money - which had been left in the fund by workers employed on a construction project at the Admiralty hotel - between 1996 and 1997.
Yu Chor of Kuen Lee Interior Decoration Co said his colleagues had donated sums of between $3,000 and $4,000 on about six occasions to buy food, including salmon, roast pig, drinks and incense as religious offerings.
They hoped the purchases would secure them luck at work.
The court heard that the alleged offences had come to light after an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry in August last year in which the firm was investigated for allegedly granting benefits to the hotel in return for hotel officials lowering standards for construction projects.