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The Institute for Ethics and Economic
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Investment
bank suspends Arrest of entertainment "tycoon" shocks Hong Kong. DAILY CITES
CHINESE MEDIA ON MISAPPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS It's reported by
NanfangDaily that 16.13bn yuan found to be missing; 247 Guangdon officials
sacked and another 49 waiting punishment after auditors discovered that a
large amount of public funds had been misappropriated last year in Gold Wo officials involved in ICAC investigation . According to
reports, Gold Wo International Holdings Ltd said that three executive
directors, two members of senior staff and a sales executive of the company
are involved in an investigation by the Independent Commission Against
Corruption for alleged bribery. The company said while it is currently able
to finance its operations with internal resources, it will not have
sufficient working capital to maintain operations should it be required to
repay all outstanding loans without any banking facilities. Further, due to
the investigation, the company will not be announcing its first half to
September results as planned and cannot anticipate when the release can be
made. Gold Wo has been suspended since December of last year. As well, its shares have also remained
suspended. Northern Light News,
December 23, 2002 summary by Sherldine Tomlinson). CIVIL SERVANT CORRUPTION CASES UP BY 13%: The ICAC received 2596 cases of civil servant corruption between Jan to June this year, up 8.6% compared to last year. 976 cases involved in civil servant corruption, up 13% compared to last year. Police corruption had the highest increase, up 16% to 337. (Singtao news, Aug 21, 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong)
HIGHEST NUMBER OF COMPLAINT EVER. ICAC received over 4400 complaints this year, indicate a 2% increase compared to last year, and the highest since the Independent Commission Against Corruption was established in 1974. (Gold Goat Net, Jul 03, 2002; summary by Caleb Kwong).
CHARGES 8 PERSONS WITH MONEY-LAUNDERING IN 50 BLN HKD CASE Eight persons, including a senior former executive at a Chinese state-owned bank, have been charged in a money laundering case involving more than 50 bln hkd, officials said. The eight were among 39 people held in a joint operation between the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and police, the ICAC said. Thirty-five other people involved in the case have been prosecuted for illegal remittance offences. The accused allegedly hired people to bring out cash from smuggling activities in mainland China and deposited the money into the bank accounts of money changers in Hong Kong, the ICAC said. The funds were then allegedly laundered via transfer into the bank accounts of certain persons and companies. (AFX News - Asia, September 10, 2002, summary by Hanh Vu).
CIVIL SERVANT CORRUPTION CASES UP BY 13%. The ICAC received 2596 cases of civil servant corruption between Jan to June this year, up 8.6% compared to last year. 976 cases involved in civil servant corruption, up 13% compared to last year. Police corruption had the highest increase, up 16% to 337. (Singtao news, Aug 21 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong).
THE BIGGEST CORRUPTION INVOLVING FIREMAN IN RECENT YEAR. Lee Chi, 50, is arrested for accepting false ‘certificate of illness’ from two subordinates in exchange for HK$6000 (US$500) cash and gifts. His two subordinates has also been charged for bribery (Singtao news, Aug 09 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong).
BUILDER CHARGER FOR BRIBERY The ICAC in Hong Kong have has arrested and charged two material suppliers (Wong Chi-Leung, 56; and Cheung Kuo-Chung, 36) and one builder (Cheung Ding-Dong, 49) in connection for bribing Chan Kuo-Dai, a senior engineer of the Department of Housing with a total of over $250,000 between March 1998 and August 2000, in order to receive preferential treatment on government building contracts. Chan Kuo-Dai is the father of Eason Chan, a Hong Kong based pop singer, who is previously charged with 16 counts of corruption and one count of civil servant mis-conduct. He will appear in Supreme Court in October 2002. (Yahoo News, Aug 28, 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong).
IMMIGRATION
OFFICER ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION CHARGES. Cho Duck-Keung, 40, was arrested
with a total of twelve charges including bribery, support illegal entry and
robbery. He will appear in Regional Court on Sep 06, 2002. Cho is an
Immigration Officer working in the Division of Long-Term Stay. He is
suspected of accepting bribes in the total of over $30,000 for speeding up
the process of visa extension between March and June, 2002. (Court reference
number DCC234/02). Another man, Ho Wun-Chung, 41, is earlier charged with
providing Cho $2,000 in order to obtain a blank working permit from him. He
failed to turn up in court on 23 Jul and is now on the police wanted list. (Mingpao News,
Jul 24, 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong). POP-STAR ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION PREVERSION OF PUBLIC JUSTICE Nicolas Ting-fung TSE, a Hong Kong based pop singer, was arrested by the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) in connection with a corruption and perversion of public justice investigation. He is suspected of being involved in a conspiracy to cover up the identity of the person who destroyed his Ferrari in a traffic accident in March on the Central district's Cotton Tree Drive. At least one police constable and one of Tse's assistants are involved. The allegation is that Tse asked his assistant to claim responsibility for the accident in his place. Those are the only facts that have been established by statements made in the public record. (Hong Kong Entertainment News In Review, Apr 27, 2002, summary by Caleb Kwong).
13 CHARGED OVER A $16.8MN BOGUS LOCK SCAM AT HOUSING AUTHORITY PROJECTS Following complaints that some unqualified lock suppliers had become approved contractors of the Housing Department by bribing government servants, operation “Salangane” was launched and a total of 13 people were arrested in April last year. The defendants currently on bail will appear in court tomorrow on a total of 10 conspiracy allegations. Enquiries against them uncovered a $16.8mn counterfeit locks scam involving the companies, E.Bon and Newise International Limited. The 13 accused are alleged to have falsely represented that the locks supplied by E. Bon to the six building contractors who they defrauded, were materials on the ‘Approved List of Materials for use in Housing Authority Building Contractors’, whilst the locks that were originally manufactured had been repacked by counterfeit ones supplied by Newise International. They made the six concerned contractors of the HA’s housing projects pay for these replaced locks for various contracts executed between November 1997 and August 2001. The thirteen arrested include top staff members of E.Bon and top officials of Newise, though the bribery allegations against the government officers could not substantiated. (ICAC, January 8, 2002, summary by Aruna Balakrishnan).
AUDITORS MUST REPORT FRAUD SAY LAWMAKERS Albert Ho Chun-yan, legislator, stated auditors should be required to report suspected fraud as neither the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing or the Securities and Futures Commission can protect small investors under the present rules. Henry Wu King-cheong , legislator, said removal of exempt dealer status for bank security units would level the field between brokerages and banks. (Hong Kong Mail, May 31, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said a bribe to an emigration consultant of $538,461 was offered for citizenship of Australia. Among those arrested were 26 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese. The emigration consultant charged each applicant fees up to $10,000. (Dow Jones Newswires, Feb. 19, 2001). HONG KONG, The Independent
Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said that new laws are needed to
prosecute corruption offenders in Hong Kong. The ICAC received 4,009
corruption reports in the first 10 months of this year, a surge of more than
24 percent from the same period last year. The ICAC also said it was
concerned about corruption in the construction sector, which was 11 percent
of the total of private sector complaints. The ICAC plans to formalize a
Quick Response Team next year to provide some cases with a possibility of
quick resolution on a fast track. (Virtual New York, 06.12.00, summary be Sandra Castro). A pro-democracy tabloid publisher and media
tycoon Jimmy Lai is accused of bribing the police to obtain information.
(WSJ, Dec. 1, 1999, p. A23) ICAC WWW Home page Homepage of Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC)....www.icac.org.hk/ HK/China: Hong Kong arrests housing officials over bribery
(Inside China Today, 20.8.00,
http://www.insidechina.com:80/news.php3?id=190683§ion=Hong+Kong) HK
anti-graft agency arrests six over credit scam (Reuters, 22.8.00, HONG KONG: CORRUPTION COMMISSION GETS
ANOTHER FRAUDSTER, BUSINESSMAN SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS FOR $6 MILLION FRAUD
Kevin Lee Kwok-wing, a former director of the Asian arm of Rockefeller &
Co Inc., was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of
corruption involving about HK$48 million ($6.15 million). In one of Hong
Kong´s biggest stock market graft convictions, Lee, 41, was charged with 17
counts of bribery, conspiracy to defraud, and conspiracy to accept an
advantage, for a web of corrupt stock transactions involving at least four
publicly traded Hong Kong companies. ``Your criminality is serious,´´ said
Mrs. Justice V. Bokhary, as she sentenced Lee. It ``was a violation of trust
on your part to your employer.´´ The amount involved eclipsed the HK$870,000
of profit at the heart of a stock exchange scandal in 1990 in which the
bourse´s chairman, Ronald Li Foo-shiu, was eventually sentenced to four years
in prison. Francis Lee, ICAC spokesman, declined to comment if the agency was investigating other people implicated in the case.
Among those named in the case brought against Lee as having paid him bribes,
though not charged themselves, are Kenneth Cheung, chairman of Hong Kong
listed company Styland Holdings Ltd., Ng Joo-siang, managing director of fish
trader Pacific Andes International Holdings Ltd., Tem Fat Hing Fung
(Holdings) Ltd. managing director Alexander Chan, and AWT World Transport then-
chairman Alfred Lam King-ko. ``The court heard that Lee, while being employed
by Rockefeller between 1992 and 1996, had acted contrary to the interest of
Rockefeller by purchasing and selling shares to the company´s detriment and
to his own benefit,´´ the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the
city´s anti-corruption squad, said in a statement. Lee was also charged with bribing
Eddie Taw Cheng-kong, former regional manager (Asia Pacific) of the
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. AOL News (Bloomberg) August
11, 2000. http://www.aol.com HONG KONG: CORRUPTION COMMISSION ARRESTS 9 IN $51 MILLION FRAUD
IN GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISE Hong Kong´s anti-graft watchdog said on Tuesday it
had arrested nine people after an investigation into alleged corruption and
credit fraud involving China-backed food distributor Guangnan (Holdings) Ltd.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement that
six men and three women had been arrested, Reuters reported. The nine people,
included four mainland Chinese, were alleged to have defrauded about HK$400
million (US$51.28 million) through false accounting and over the applications
of letters of credit with ``bogus business transactions,´´ the ICAC
said. ``Investigations revealed that
the arrestees had allegedly conspired with others to fabricate business
records to apply for letters of credit from a number of banks,´´ it said.
``They were said to have posed as fictitious contractual parties in business
transactions with Guangnan, thereby inducing the banks to grant letters of
credit applications.´´ More than 20 letters of credit were alleged to have
been granted to Guangnan´s subsidiaries between 1996 and 1998, it said. The
graft busters has launched investigations into suspected corruption, fraud
and embezzlement involving the company in 1998, the ICAC said. In May, a Hong
Kong court sentenced an accountant and a trading company executive to four
years in jail each for defrauding Guangnan. The case involved HK$118 million
in fraudulent letters of credit. The ICAC also said it was probing into
allegations that some senior management members of Guangnan might have
involved in illicit activities that had resulted in inflated profit reports
for the group of companies. Officials from the China-backed company were not
immediately available for comment. Guangnan said in May its outstanding debt
totalled HK$873.71 million and unutilised banking facilities amounted to
HK$70.41 million. Guangnan is owned by debt-laden Guangdong Enterprises
(Holdings) Ltd, which is undergoing comprehensive restructuring involving
liabilities totally US$6 billion. Guangdong Enterprises is the Hong Kong
flagship investment arm of China´s Guangdong provincial government. Muzi,
August 16, 2000
http://lateline.muzi.net/cgi/lateline/news.cgi?p=82562&l=english
The
Index of Economic Freedom (by
Driscoll-Holmes-Kirkpatrick) for 2001 places Hong Kong in the “Free” category
with a rank of 1 (Ranks range from 1 for Hong Kong to 155 for North Korea,
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2000). H. D. Vinod’s trimmed correlation
analysis indicates that countries free from economic regulation are less
corrupt. After allowing for some exceptions by 20% trimming, the correlation
is near 0.9. |
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Design: Theo den Brinker |
Copyright: Hrishikesh D.
Vinod 2000 |
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