Team leader of subcontractor of North District Community Health Centre among trio charged by ICAC for accepting $300,000 bribes from workers

A team leader and two workers of an air-conditioning subcontractor of a government development project of North District Community Health Centre were charged by the ICAC today (July 3) for allegedly accepting bribes totalling over $300,000 from workers referred by them.

Yung Sung-kwan, 62, former team leader of Datatech Enterprises Limited (Datatech); and two former workers of Datatech, Ho Hon-kei and Tse Shu-hong, respectively 54 and 65, face three counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage in total, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

Yung also faces two counts of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of POBO.

The trio were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts next Monday (July 7) for plea.

At the material time, i.e. between December 2022 and February 2024, Datatech was a subcontractor responsible for air-conditioning and refrigeration system installation of the development project of North District Community Health Centre cum Social Welfare Facilities of the Hospital Authority (HA). Yung, a site team leader employed by Datatech, was responsible for supervising and recruiting workers for the site. As stipulated in the employment contract, the daily wage of a worker was $2,000. Datatech prohibited its staff to solicit or accept advantages from others in relation to its business.

Three of the charges allege that Yung had conspired with Ho and Tse respectively to accept bribes ranging from $600 to $1,000 per working day from five workers. Ho was one of the workers paying bribes to Yung.

Two remaining charges allege that Yung had accepted bribes of $1,800 and $8,500 from two other workers.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that three defendants had allegedly accepted bribes totalling over $300,000 from seven workers for assisting them to secure their employment with Datatech. Some of the workers paid bribes for fear of losing their jobs.

HA and Datatech rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.