The CCAC received reports claiming that some inspectors of the Department of Sewerage and Urban Roads of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) deliberately made things difficult for works companies with underground piping projects in hand and solicited advantages from them. After investigation the CCAC found that a serving inspector and a former inspector of the said department allegedly committed such offences as abuse of office, document forgery, high-value fraud, abuse of trust, money laundering and making a false declaration of assets with intent. The cases have been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office recently.
According to the regulations, when it comes to trench excavations in public streets for infrastructure construction and pipe connections, no matter whether they are to be carried out by private entities or public utility companies, including the electricity, telecommunications and water suppliers, applications for excavation permits must be made to the IACM in advance. The inspectors of the Division of Public Roads under the Department of Sewerage and Urban Roads of the IACM are responsible for site supervision during excavation periods and handling project delays. Only after the performed trench excavations have been examined and approved by the inspectors can the works companies carry on with their subsequent works. For trench excavations failing to meet the quality and safety requirements, the inspectors have the power to request them to be suspended or re-done so that improvements will be made. According to the CCAC’s investigation, an inspector from the Division of Public Roads allegedly abused his roadworks supervision power to obtain illicit advantages. As a result, the quality of the roadworks under his supervision could not be ensured and extra time for the roadworks were arbitrarily allowed, which leaded to repeated schedule delays.
According to the information, an IACM worker surnamed Kou was an inspector working under the “trench excavations monitoring group”. With the knowledge that there would be contractors carrying out underground piping works, Kou abused his position as an inspector by trying to contact the contractors and ask them to sub-contract the works to his friend’s company. After that, Kou pretended to be the representative of his friend’s company and took forward the projects. He then sub-contracted the projects again to other companies for implementation at prices lower than what were offered by the contractors, so he could make profits from the differences in the prices. Once the fees from the contractors were received, Kou kept the majority to himself and, with different excuses, defaulted in payments to the companies that actually carried out the works. Moreover, Kou even forged his friend’s company chop, quotation letters and invoices so that he could get projects and receive payments. Kou has defrauded projects from a few works companies by such means in the past three years, which involved an approximate amount of MOP550,000. He allegedly committed abuse of office, document forgery, high-value fraud and money laundering.
It was also found in the investigation that Kou abused his power by requesting the contractors of piping works to sub-contract them to the companies he introduced and thus gained advantage from them. Worrying that they would be given difficulties on the projects if they rejected the request, the contractors reluctantly sub-contracted them to the designated companies at the prices determined by Kou. After receiving the payment from the contractors, Kou obtained the illicit advantages from the price difference or by embezzlement, constituting crimes of abuse of office and abuse of trust.
Moreover, with the excuse that he had successfully bid for a lunar New Year firecracker vending booth, Kou requested the owners of the piping works companies to buy firecrackers and fireworks at a price higher than the market price so that he would gain advantage from it. Some of them refused to do so for the reason that they did not have such habit. Consequently, they were given a hard time and punished by Kou without any reason in the following year. Ever since then, they bought firecrackers from Kou at a price set by him every year. Then he no longer give them any difficulties on the sewage works they handled and those projects were supervised with laxer standards. Such acts have constituted crimes of abuse of office.
The CCAC found that that Kou has been addicted to gambling for a long time. He not only had a betting account in a lottery company but also went to slot parlours frequently for gambling. For instance, he went for gambling during his working time, sick leave and absence for taking care of his sick family members and thus gambled away a major part of his illicit gains.
The CCAC also found that Wong, another inspector of the Division of Public Roads, who resigned in February this year, formed a works company with his friends in the name of his elder brother when he was working for the IACM. In fact, the company was controlled and run by Wong. Taking advantage of his duty to supervise underground piping works, Wong got the contracts of some piping projects through the company he controlled. Moreover, he was still engaged in the supervision of the projects done by the company and even deliberately loosened the supervision standards so that the company managed to escape from punishment despite the irregular acts it had carried out. Between 2014 and 2016, Wong was responsible for the supervision of more than 30 piping projects done by the company. Such acts have constituted crimes of abuse of office.
Moreover, there was untrue information in the declarations of assets and interests submitted by Kou and Wong. Therefore, they have allegedly committed crimes of “inaccurate data” under the Legal Regime of Declaration of Assets and Interests.