Senior engineer confessed to accepting money out of greed, a court hears
A senior Housing Department engineer confessed during an ICAC interview that he had accepted more than $500,000 from contractors and building material suppliers in return for favours, a court heard yesterday.
The Court of First Instance was also told that Chan Kau-tai, the department's chief services engineer, admitted accepting another $200,000 from a friend and businessman for helping his son secure a job as a government contract engineer.
Chan, the father of Canto-pop star Eason Chan Yick-shun, has pleaded not guilty to 15 charges of accepting an advantage as a public servant and one of misconduct in public office.
The prosecution claims Chan received $3.36 million in bribes from contractors and suppliers of building materials doing business with the Housing Authority and the Housing Department between April 1, 1999, and August 2, 2001.
In his third videotaped interview with Independent Commission Against Corruption officers, which was played in court yesterday, Chan said he accepted the money out of greed.
'I really cannot tell [why I took the cash]. It was a kind of greed,' he told the officers.
