Couple charged by ICAC guilty of $9.6m private residential project subcontractor worker wage fraud

A couple from a subcontractor of a construction project in Mid-Levels, charged by the ICAC, were today (July 4) convicted at the District Court of fraud for swindling the project contractor out of almost $9.6 million by falsifying and overstating the wages of workers.

The defendants, Hon Sang, 53, company secretary of Honsang Company Limited (Honsang); and his wife Ada Law Yin-nei, 48, sole director-cum-shareholder of Honsang, were convicted after trial of two counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.

Deputy Judge Miss Veronica Heung Shuk-han adjourned the case to July 18 for mitigation, pending background reports of the two defendants. Hon was remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department while Law was granted bail.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in connection with wage release to workers by Honsang. At the material time, Honsang was a subcontractor of aluminium and glass related works of a private residential construction project on Borrett Road in Mid-Levels. Honsang was required to submit wage payments related documents, including copies of cheques issued to workers and the relevant receipts, to a contractor of the project – CR Construction Company Limited (CR Construction) – for reimbursing expenses on an accountable basis.

The court heard that between September 2018 and April 2019, CR Construction received from Honsang photocopies of over 1,200 cheques and relevant receipts, purporting that wages totalling about $30 million were paid to workers. CR Construction consequently settled the whole sum of payment with Honsang.

The ICAC investigation revealed that the payees and the payable amounts in 43 of the cheques, involving a sum of around $9.3 million, were falsified and deposited into bank accounts of the Hon couple and other individuals.

Since Honsang had failed to pay wages to workers on time, CR Construction subsequently made direct payments to workers. Between May and August 2019, the Hon couple had overstated the wages of over 10 workers, causing CR Construction to overpay those workers by almost $300,000. They had also instructed workers to return the wages overpaid by CR Construction to Honsang.

CR Construction rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Susanna Ku, assisted by ICAC officer Andy Yip.