Ex-Cyberport entrepreneurship head among 6 charged by ICAC over $20m tech subsidy fraud

The ICAC has charged six people, including a former section head of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, over an alleged bribery and fraud syndicate involving the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme.

Alice So Nga-lai, 59, then Head of Entrepreneurship of Cyberport, faces one count of public servant accepting advantages. Viola Lam Yuen-lee, 39, sole proprietor of Find Solution Ai Limited, faces one count of offering advantages to a public servant.

Viola Lam and the remaining four defendants are also charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud. The co-defendants are Lam's younger brother Paul Lam Kin-ho, 35, company secretary of Find Solution; and three downline vendors of Find Solution, Daniel Lee, Chan Hoi-tsun and Tsang Wai-ping, aged between 31 and 52.

No plea was entered. The case was adjourned to January 4, 2027, and the defendants were granted bail of between HK$20,000 and HK$100,000, with travel bans and no contact with prosecution witnesses.

The two bribery charges allege So accepted gifts from Viola Lam in return for remaining favourably disposed to Find Solution in subsidy applications. The gifts included several round-trip flight tickets between Hong Kong and Thailand and Japan, as well as branded handbags and a smartphone.

The ICAC investigation revealed So allegedly accepted bribes for curtailing the investigation of complaints against Find Solution and expediting subsidy releases. The conspiracy charge alleges the defendants falsely represented that various SMEs had applied for subsidies, engaged Find Solution and paid half the service fees, inducing Cyberport to approve applications and pay the remaining halves. The case involved at least 400 applications and about HK$20 million in subsidies.

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