Hong Kong husband-and-wife given suspended sentences after admitting they gave false information in tender for Hongkong Post work
- Judge tells couple offences were serious but suspends sentences because of mitigating factors
- Court hears that Hongkong Post tendering process was headed by woman’s cousin, then an assistant general manager with the service
A Hong Kong husband-and-wife team who won a HK$4.2 million (US$536,450) contract with the postal service through deception were given suspended sentences by a judge on Friday.
Chow is a cousin of Cheng Chun-kit, a former assistant general manager at Hongkong Post.
Judge Merinda Chow Yin-chu said the couple had put in a fraudulent bid and the offences were serious. But she said she had considered their guilty pleas and other mitigating matters when she suspended the jail terms.
The pair were charged with two counts of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception.
Cheung pleaded guilty to both charges and Chow admitted to one. The remaining charge against Chow was left on file.
It is also alleged, in a separate case, that Cheng concealed his family relationship with Chow and Cheung when handling the tendering process.
Cheng earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of misconduct in public office and is expected to stand trial on September 18.
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The court heard earlier that Hongkong Post carried out a tendering exercise for the redevelopment of its internet shopping platforms in 2017 in a bid to integrate its online retail sites, which was headed by Cheng.
The postal service awarded the contract to Intimex in September 2017.
But the court heard that, during the tendering process, the couple, together with others, made false representations that a former schoolmate of Chow and two employees of a business partner of Intimex would be members of the implementation team for the project and outlined their experience.
The online retail project required the implementation team to be made up of at least six people with specific qualifications and work experience.
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The anti-corruption watchdog said its investigation, sparked by a complaint, had found Chow’s classmate and the business partner’s employees named in the bid had never been hired by Intimex or involved in the project.
Cheung was found to have joined Intimex in July 2017 and had not worked on its projects before.
The court was told Hongkong Post would not have awarded the contract to Intimex if it had known about the false declarations.
Hongkong Post paid Intimex HK$2.9 million for the work, after a fine was deducted for delays in the completion of the project.
The ICAC said the postal service had cooperated fully during its investigation into the case.
The commission also warned the public to abide by the law in dealings with government departments because winning a contract through corruption or deception was a criminal offence.
