The owner of a subcontractor involved in Hong Kong International Airport’s Three-Runway System project pleaded guilty on Monday to five bribery charges involving more than HK$5 million, while a former Airport Authority Hong Kong executive went on trial after denying a related charge.
The three defendants are former AAHK general manager Yin Kek-kiong, Carol Engineering Limited proprietor Ng Kai-on and the company’s former project manager Rob Liu Wai-lun.
Ng, 69, pleaded guilty at the District Court to two counts of conspiracy to offer advantages to public servants and three counts of offering advantages to agents.
Liu, 58, had previously admitted two bribery charges involving a total of HK$200,000 offered to a former AAHK principal manager and a works manager of a main contractor.
Yin, 65, denied one count of conspiracy for a public servant to accept an advantage and went on trial before District Judge Eddie Yip Chor-man. The hearing was adjourned to Tuesday.
The court heard that the main reclamation works contractor purchased materials from Carol Engineering 28 times between 2017 and 2021. The company was also awarded a seawall-related subcontract in 2018.
Ng later told company managers that the subcontract had been secured with assistance from Yin, former AAHK principal manager Ricky Lee Wing-fai and two managers working for the main contractor.
Between February 2019 and January 2022, Ng instructed company managers on four occasions to divide profits into five shares, with Yin, Lee, Ng and the two main-contractor managers each expected to receive more than HK$2 million.
Carol Engineering subsequently secured three additional works packages under the same main reclamation contract. The main contractor paid the company about HK$410 million for works between June 2017 and May 2022.
In July 2019, Ng paid RMB630,000 toward the purchase of a residential property in Zhuhai bought by Yin in his girlfriend’s name, according to the prosecution case.
Ng also provided Lee with HK$2.5 million between February and August 2019, with part of the money deposited into mainland bank accounts held in the names of Lee’s wife or father.
During the same period, Ng instructed a Carol Engineering accounting manager to transfer the equivalent of HK$2.6 million into a mainland bank account provided by two managers of the main contractor. The pair allegedly received HK$2.3 million and HK$300,000 respectively.
The court also heard that after Carol Engineering fell behind on reclamation works in June 2022, Ng instructed staff to identify someone who could assist the company and indicated that a payment could be offered.
Liu later gave HK$100,000 in cash to a works manager of the main contractor at a gathering in July 2022, following Ng’s instructions.
Liu had also admitted offering another HK$100,000 to Lee in connection with the project.
Ng and Liu were granted bail pending sentencing on March 5, 2027.
The ICAC has said its investigation found no evidence of problems involving the quality of the works or the specifications of materials used in the Three-Runway System project. Airport Authority Hong Kong also conducted a review and found no abnormalities or deficiencies in the relevant works.
