Special Treatment
A law enforcement officer visited a restaurant shortly after its opening. The officer told the restaurant shareholders that he could regularly visit the restaurant, but that required monthly “travelling expenses”（「車馬費」）. Believing that the officer would protect the restaurant from triads, the shareholders agreed to pay.
Customary Gifts
While having dealings with a government department, the proprietor of a company offered boxes of mooncakes to an officer of the department a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Despite the officer’s refusal to accept, he insisted and left the mooncakes behind. A senior officer of the department referred the case to the ICAC and returned the mooncakes to the proprietor.
Solicitation of Rebate
A manager of a supermarket chain was responsible for overseeing the operation of some 20 stores of the group. At a liaison dinner with food suppliers, he met a director of a company supplying roast meat.
Knowing that the company director was eager to do business with the supermarket, the manager offered to help him obtain a concessionaire contract for roast meat at one of the supermarket stores, provided that the director would rebate him 5% of the sales generated from the stall. The director agreed. Later, the supermarket manager also assisted the roast meat company in obtaining concessionaire contracts for stalls at other stores.
The manager accepted over $50,000 from the company director over a six-month period.
Knowing that the company director was eager to do business with the supermarket, the manager offered to help him obtain a concessionaire contract for roast meat at one of the supermarket stores, provided that the director would rebate him 5% of the sales generated from the stall. The director agreed. Later, the supermarket manager also assisted the roast meat company in obtaining concessionaire contracts for stalls at other stores.
The manager accepted over $50,000 from the company director over a six-month period.
Offer of Commission
A luxury goods retail company earns its large portion of income from group tourists. Facing increasingly fierce competition, the Chairman of the company offered commissions to tour guides employed by various travel agencies to induce them to bring the group tourists to patronise his company’s showrooms. To conceal his act, the Chairman channeled the company’s money to another company set up by himself, and distributed the commissions, amounting to millions over several years, through the latter.
The travel agencies concerned did not know that their employees had been receiving commissions from the retail company, nor did they permit employees from receiving commissions from merchants. In defending himself during prosecution, the Chairman of the company claimed that offering commission to secure referral of clients was a norm in the industry.
The travel agencies concerned did not know that their employees had been receiving commissions from the retail company, nor did they permit employees from receiving commissions from merchants. In defending himself during prosecution, the Chairman of the company claimed that offering commission to secure referral of clients was a norm in the industry.
Leakage of Tender Information
A senior manager of a company was responsible for processing tenders submitted by contractors to bid for the company’s construction and renovation projects. There was no deadline for submission of tenders for some projects and the senior manager was solely responsible for opening the submitted tenders. Over a prolonged period, the senior manager, together with a director of another company, conspired to solicit and accept tens of millions of dollars from a number of potential contractors. In return, the senior manager provided the colluded contractors with confidential tender information submitted by other contractors in relation to the projects. As a result, the colluded contractors could submit favorable tenders (e.g. the tender price was just slightly below the second lowest price if price was the only consideration) and obtain the contracts from the company.
Use of Bogus Invoices
A manager of a trading company was solely responsible for placing shipping orders and checking invoices submitted by freight forwarders or transportation companies. He was authorised to issue orders not exceeding a specified amount while orders with value over the specified amount required approval by his superior. Over a few years, the manager split the orders into small ones so that he could authorise the issue of orders. He also used a number of false invoices of a dormant transportation company he had set up to deceive payment from the trading company. The bogus invoices, amounting to several million dollars, purportedly showed that the company owned by the manager had provided transportation services to the trading company.
