Hostel manager charged by the ICAC for misappropriating payments of over $900,000

A hostel manager was charged by the ICAC yesterday (June 17) for allegedly stealing payments of over $900,000 by altering booking records of the hostel on various occasions over a span of two years and covering up his misappropriation by making false representation that a group client owed payments to the hostel.

Li Kei-tat, 39, former assistant lodge manager of Caritas-Hong Kong (Caritas), faces eight charges – one of agent using document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance; six of theft and one of fraud, contrary to sections 9 and 16A of the Theft Ordinance respectively.

The defendant was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (June 19) for mention. The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for plea.

The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. At the material time, i.e. between July 2021 and June 2023, the defendant was responsible for serving guests at the front desk of Caritas Oswald Cheung International House, including collecting payment and inputting the relevant booking information onto the computer system. Caritas found in early 2023 that payments from guests totalling over $1.6 million were unsettled. An internal investigation was launched and the defendant was required to submit an incident report.

One of the charges alleges that the defendant had submitted an incident report containing false statement at the Caritas internal investigation, claiming that his mobile phone number was the contact number of a representative of an organisation and that the organisation owed Caritas a total of over $1.6 million in payments.

The theft charges allege that the defendant had stolen six payments totalling about $880,000 belonging to Caritas. The remaining charge alleges that the defendant, with intent to defraud, induced a guest to pay him over $33,000 by falsely representing that he would transfer to Caritas the payment made by the guest.

ICAC enquiries revealed that the defendant had allegedly altered the booking records of the hostel on various occasions so that he could steal the cash payments made by guests.

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