Hong Kong bid-rigging trial hears trio offered HK$2m bribes to win HK$20m tender

Three alleged middlemen in a Hong Kong bid-rigging syndicate offered HK$2 million (US$256,410) in bribes to an owners’ corporation chairman and member to secure a HK$20 million renovation tender for an ageing building, a court has heard.

The prosecution’s opening statement on Wednesday accused Chong Chun-to, 60, Lam Suet-pin, 53, and To Hon-sum, 47, of conspiring to offer bribes to two members of the owner’s corporation of Hing Tat Mansion in Kwun Tong during the bidding for major renovation works in 2022.

The corporation’s chairman Cheung Kin-wah, 55, and member Zhan Qingbo, 49, were also accused of conspiring with the men to influence owners to vote for companies affiliated with the syndicate.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has cracked down corruption crimes in relation to big-rigging in recent years, prosecuting 35 individuals and two companies.

Among them were the five defendants now on trial at the District Court before Deputy District Judge Daniel Tang Siu-hung.

All five pleaded not guilty to two joint counts of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent. They are the first group of defendants to stand trial.

David Leung Cheuk-yin, a former deputy director of public prosecutions representing the ICAC, said that the owners’ corporation of Hing Tat Mansion, a private building more than 50 years old, was preparing to begin renovation work and had invited consulting firms to tender for the project in mid-2022.

According to the prosecution, middlemen Chong and Lam urged Cheung and Zhan to include five companies affiliated with the syndicate – Ida Engineering Consultants, RPH Surveyors, Joyance Building Consultant Company, Mega Consultant and I Consultants and Contracting Company – on the agenda of the corporation’s meeting in January 2023.

In the months before the meeting, the defendants met 10 times to discuss the alleged bid-rigging scheme, with eight of those sessions focused on how to carry it out.

During one of the meetings, Chong and Lam asked Zhan to give interview tips to the three affiliated companies so they could win the trust of the owners.

They also allegedly advised Zhan that, if owners questioned why the companies had quoted higher prices than competitors, he should promote the three firms and disparage the others.

The syndicate planned to submit a HK$20 million bid for the construction contract, anticipating that their competitors would offer significantly lower prices.

At a separate meeting, Chong allegedly told chairman Cheung that several million dollars of the HK$20 million contract sum would need to be set aside as bribes to secure the tender.

He said HK$2 million would be paid to Cheung and Zhan if one of the affiliated companies won the contract.

In subsequent meetings, Cheung allegedly gave the middlemen updates on discussions among owners’ corporation members.

The middlemen also allegedly encouraged Zhan to recruit more members by offering them HK$100,000 each.

Prosecutor Leung said these meetings in question were recorded by ICAC surveillance.

Two days before the owners’ meeting on January 6, 2023, ICAC officers arrested the defendants.

The trial, which is expected to last 30 days, will continue on Thursday.