An employee and a former director of two air-conditioning maintenance contractors were charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC) last Friday 13 May with offering bribes totalling about HK$1.5 million to a former director of Wynn Macau Ltd for air-conditioning maintenance contracts valued at around HK$22 million.
Li Kin-wang, 58, Senior Sales Manager of Oh Luen Air-conditioning Equipment Limited, faces seven counts of offering advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).
Li and Woo Tak-hoi, 55, then director of Wai Luen Air-conditioning Limited, faces two counts of the same.
The defendants were released on bail, pending their appearance in Hong Kong’s Eastern Magistrates’ Court this Thursday 19 May for the case to be transferred to the District Court.
Oh Luen and Wai Luen were companies respectively established in Macau and Hong Kong to provide air-conditioning installation and maintenance services to customers. Both companies were operated by the same proprietor. Since 2013, Oh Luen had been an approved supplier of Wynn Resorts (Macau) S.A, operator of Wynn Macau on the peninsula and Wynn Palace in Cotai.
Seven of the charges allege that Li, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, offered seven bribes totalling over HK$930,000 to a then-director of Wynn as an inducement to or reward for the latter to receive and consider quotations or tenders submitted by Oh Luen to Wynn in relation to air-conditioning system maintenance services.
The remaining two charges allege that Li and Woo, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, conspired together to offer two bribes totalling HK$560,000 for the same purpose.
The alleged offences took place between June 2014 and January 2017. ICAC inquiries revealed that during the period, Wynn had awarded around 70 air-conditioning maintenance contracts worth around HK$22 million to Oh Luen.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. The two defendants were charged upon legal advice sought from the Department of Justice. The corruption investigation is continuing.
