The engineering company boss charged with corruption in the Airport Express piling scandal appeared in Eastern Court yesterday after being escorted from New York by ICAC officers.
Hui Wai-chung, 38, faces one count of conspiracy to defraud and one of offering an advantage to an agent. No pleas were entered yesterday.
Prosecutor Kevin Zervos said Hui conspired to construct defective foundations at the northern end of Hong Kong station. More than 80 of the 87 piles sunk in 1997 by Hui's company, On Foundation Engineering, were found to be up to 30 per cent too short, Mr Zervos said.
Hui and others submitted falsified tests, records and reports to conceal the defective foundations, the court heard.
Hui also allegedly offered $50,000 to Wong Ka-wing, an engineer with B+B Construction Ltd, to assist him to build short foundation piles.
'The consequence of this conspiracy resulted in an extremely dangerous and hazardous situation which put at serious risk the safety of any future construction on the site and the safety and well-being of the public. The defective foundations required remedial work running into millions of dollars,' Mr Zervos said.
