Ex-site team leader for Third Runway Project jailed for accepting HK$14,000 in bribes

A former site team leader of a subcontractor for the airport’s Third Runway Project was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment on Friday for soliciting and accepting HK$14,000 in bribes from two workers in relation to their employment. 

The 62-year-old defendant Ting Shi-tong was earlier found guilty of six counts of agent accepting an advantage and a count of agent soliciting an advantage. 

Passing down the sentence in Kwun Tong Court today, Deputy Magistrate Polly Chuang Po-yi reprimanded Ting for showing no remorse at all and considered that there was a high risk of reoffending. 

She noted that the Third Runway Project was a major project for the city and Ting exploited the new blood in the construction industry and deprived them of their hard-earned money by taking advantage of the younger generation’s eagerness to find jobs. 

His acts had undermined the society’s probity culture and public confidence in equal employment opportunity, warranting a deterrent sentence, Chuang added. 

Chuang had earlier order Ting to pay the bribes to subcontractor MLife Engineering Ltd (MEL) as restitution. 

The court heard that MEL was a sub-contractor of the Third Runway Project at the time and two workers were respectively employed at a daily wage of HK$1,200 and HK$1,450 to join Ting’s team and work at the construction site. 

The court also heard that Ting had solicited a daily bribe of HK$150 from the two workers on various occasions between March and June 2022. The duo believed that they would not be employed or their employment would be terminated by Ting if they did not accede to the request. 

Ting eventually accepted from each of them a bribe of about HK$5,800 and HK$8,200, totaling about HK$14,000. 

ICAC said they had charged 26 people over bribery related to workers’ employment so far, most of whom were site team leaders of a sub-contractor for the Third Runway Project. 

Twenty defendants, including Ting, had pleaded guilty or were found guilty after trial, receiving sentences of up to 16 months in jail. Four others are awaiting plea or trial. 

ICAC extended gratitude towards the Airport Authority, main contractor SAPR JV and MEL for rendering their full assistance during investigation into the case.