Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has charged a manager and a former director of an air-conditioning maintenance company in Hong Kong with bribing a previous Wynn Resorts Macau senior executive tasked with facilities management into granting the company in Hong Kong contracts for the gaming resort’s air-conditioning maintenance for several years.
Hong Kong’s anti-graft body made the announcement in a statement yesterday afternoon. Shortly afterwards its Macau counterpart, the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC), released a follow-up statement about the case.
HK$1.5 million bribes, HK$22 million contracts
According to the two statements, the two men paid bribes totalling around HK$1.5 million to the then facilities management senior executive between 2014 and 2017, during which the air-conditioning maintenance company was granted about 70 contracts for the gaming resort involving around HK$22 million.
The ICAC statement identified the gaming resort as Wynn, but the CCAC statement did not, just saying that it is a gaming operator in Macau.
The ICAC statement identified the air-conditioning maintenance company as Wai Luen Air-conditioning Limited (偉聯空調設備有限公司) established in Hong Kong, which runs a company, Oh Luen Air-conditioning Equipment Limited (澳聯空調設備有限公司), in Macau.
The ICAC statement identified the two defendants as Li Kin-wang (李健宏), 58, a senior sales manager of Oh Luen, and Woo Tak-hoi (胡德海), 55, a former director of Wai Luen.
Neither the ICAC nor the CCAC statement mention the gender of the then senior executive of Wynn Resorts Macau.
The ICAC statement merely identified the then senior executive of Wynn Resorts Macau as a department director, while the CCAC statement identified him or her as the director of the gaming operator’s facilities department.
The ICAC statement said that the two defendants, who were charged on Friday, have been released on bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday for the case to be transferred to the District Court.
The ICAC statement said that Wai Luen and Oh Luen are operated by the same proprietor, providing customers with air-conditioning installation and maintenance services. Oh Luen became a supplier accepted by Wynn Resorts Macau in 2013 for providing services, the statement said.
According to the ICAC statement, the case involves nine charges.
Seven of the charges, the statement said, allege that Li, without lawful authority or a reasonable excuse, offered seven bribes totalling around HK$930,000 to the then senior executive of Wynn Resorts Macau as “an inducement or reward” for the latter to receive and consider quotations or tenders submitted by Oh Luen for air-conditioning system maintenance services.
According to the statement, the remaining two charges allege that Li and Woo, without lawful authority or a reasonable excuse, conspired together to offer two bribes totalling HK$560,000 to the then senior executive for the same purpose.
The ICAC statement said that the alleged offences took place between June 2014 and January 2017. The findings of an ICAC investigation revealed that Wynn Resorts Macau granted Oh Luen about 70 air-conditioning maintenance contracts worth around HK$22 million.
The statement said that ICAC officials had launched an investigation into the case after receiving a corruption complaint, before deciding to charge the two defendants upon legal advice from the Department of Justice (DoJ). The investigation is still ongoing, the statement said.
The ICAC statement said that Macau’s Commission Against Corruption and Wynn Resorts Macau have provided “full” assistance during the investigation into the case.
CCAC’s follow-up statement
According to the follow-up CCAC statement, the two defendants who have been charged by Hong Kong’s anti-graft body, as well as the then director of the gaming operator’s facilities department, are all Hong Kong residents.
The CCAC statement said that Hong Kong’s ICAC has solved the bribery case with the assistance of its Macau counterpart. The statement noted that all the alleged offences took place in Hong Kong. The CCAC statement identified the two defendants as a senior sales manager who was sent by a Hong Kong air-conditioning maintenance company to work in Macau, and a former director of the company.
The CCAC statement said that Macau’s Commission Against Corruption received a number of anonymous complaints in November 2018, claiming that the air-conditioning maintenance company was granted various procurement contracts for providing the gaming operator with the respective services between 2013 and 2018, by paying bribes to the then director of the gaming operator’s facilities department.
The statement said that CCAC officials had then decided to launch an investigation, and in February 2019 Macau’s anti-graft body received a request for assistance about the case from its Hong Kong counterparts.
The CCAC statement said that the then facilities department director was employed by the gaming operator in 2007.
The statement said that the findings of the CCAC investigation revealed that the two Hong Kong residents from the air-conditioning maintenance company had transferred the respective bribes to the then facilities department director via bank accounts in Hong Kong.
