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Former Wharf (Holdings) executive Warren Wong has
been sentenced to seven years in jail for demanding tens of millions of dollars
in bribes from contractors bidding for work on the property firm's projects.
Edwin Tso, the middleman who procured the payments between 1998 and 2002,
received a six-year sentence.
Wong at the time was chief manager of Wharf's tenders section.
Tso admitted he took HK$13 million from Hip Hing Construction, while bank
records showed Wong received at least HK$4.57 million. Next week, Justice Louis
Tong will decide how much Wong and Tso must repay.
Despite evidence the two took bribes, they were prosecuted on the
easier-to-prove charge of soliciting advantages.
They were found guilty of a total of nine offences.
The convictions included jointly conspiring to solicit HK$24 million from Hip
Hing and Gammon Skanska in return for providing information about other tenders
for Wharf's HK$1 billion Bellagio Phase II residential project in Sham Tseng.
Gammon Skanska reported the graft to the Independent Commission Against
Corruption.
Gammon executive Ho On-sing told the ICAC that the duo asked for further
payments during a tender for foundation work on Kowloon Station Development
Package II.
The jury acquitted Wong and Tso of this charge.
The only other charge where a figure was mentioned was the count of conspiracy
by Wong to solicit HK$10 million from Chun Wo Construction on the same project.
Selwyn Chan, a former Wharf project manager who confessed to being part of the
conspiracy, was given immunity from prosecution in return for acting as the
main witness.
Earlier, Ricky Law, a director of Chun Wo, was acquitted of charges he paid
HK$1.7 million to Chan for a contract Chun Wo won in 2001.
daniel.hilken@globalchina.com
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