Trading company duo charged for offering HK$1m bribes to vice president of bank over receipt of fund

A director and a representative of a trading company will appear in court on Wednesday after being charged by the ICAC on Monday for allegedly offering bribes totaling HK$1.02 million to a vice president of a bank to assist the company in receiving an investment fund claimed to amount to $200 billion euros through its account held with the bank.

It is understood that Hong Kong Chinese Reserve International Company Limited (Chinese Reserve) held a bank account with DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (DBS Bank), which required its customers to provide supporting documents when conducting large transactions for verification purposes.

It is alleged that Wammy Ngan Wang-lai and Jiang Jiaxin, director-shareholder and representative of a trading company, conspired together between July and August 2023 to offer two bribe payments of HK$1 million and HK$20,000, respectively, to a vice president of DBS Bank to assist the Chinese Reserve to re-activate its dormant bank account held with DBS Bank to receive an investment fund through the account.

The vice president rejected the defendants’ offers and reported the matter to the bank.

The ICAC subsequently received a corruption complaint and conducted an investigation, and it was revealed that Ngan claimed that the Chinese Reserve had to receive an investment fund of $200 billion euros through its bank account held with DBS Bank and allegedly provided false documents to the bank.

The duo, who were both 55, were charged with conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent and of offering an advantage to an agent, violating the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and the Crimes Ordinance.

The two defendants were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday (May 8).

The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for a plea.