Directors acquitted in counterfeit lock case

Six company directors accused of fraud by fitting counterfeit door locks to public housing projects were acquitted yesterday.

The judge accused the Housing Authority of running a secret 'black box' operation regarding its procedural guidelines for building material suppliers.

Henry Tse Sun-fat, 45, Tony Tse Sun-po, 43, Almond Tse Sun-ming, 42, Rhodes Lee Chi-wah, 39, and Yick Kai-chung, 43 - all directors of E Bon Building Materials Company - and former director Albert Tse Sun-wai, 51, were each acquitted of two joint charges of conspiracy to defraud.

They were accused of providing 92,800 counterfeit Bonco locks and 10,900 fake Alpha locks worth $16.8 million and installing them in eight Home Ownership Scheme projects and three public housing estates between July 7, 1997, and August 31 last year.

Dismissing the charges, District Court judge Fergal Sweeney said that he could not find any dishonesty in the defendants' actions and criticised the list of approved materials to be used in Housing Authority projects as a 'black box', saying it did not provide lock suppliers with clear procedural guidelines.

Judge Sweeney said there was no evidence that the suppliers were required by regulation to tell the authority of any change in where the locks were made, only in the materials from which they were manufactured.