Secretarial company proprietor charged by ICAC for bribing bank employee over accounts opening

A proprietor of a secretarial company charged by the ICAC appeared in the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts for mention today (April 21) for allegedly offering a bribe of $6,800 to a bank employee to assist clients referred by her in opening bank accounts.

Gu Qian, 39, proprietor of a secretarial company, faced one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

No plea was entered today. Magistrate Ms Amy Chan Wai-mun adjourned the case to June 24 for mention and granted the defendant bail.

At the material time, the defendant was the proprietor of a secretarial company. Between late May and late October 2025, she referred several clients to an assistant customer service manager of a branch of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK) in Tsim Sha Tsui. Eight of the clients successfully opened bank accounts with BOCHK.

The charge alleged that on October 27, 2025, the defendant offered a bribe of $6,800 to the BOCHK employee as a reward for assisting clients referred by the defendant in opening bank accounts.

The BOCHK employee refused to accept the bribe and reported the incident to BOCHK. Following an investigation upon receipt of a corruption report, the defendant was charged by the ICAC yesterday (April 20).

BOCHK rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. All eight bank accounts successfully opened fulfilled the bank’s due diligence requirements.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Flora Wong.