Although Xenia and Xaviera were good friends, their relationship conflicted with the company’s interest, placing Xenia in a conflict of interest situation.  She prioritised her personal relationship over professional integrity.  By recklessly marking up the prices of other airlines to aid the sales of Xaviera’s tickets, Xenia acted unfairly toward those airlines and jeopardised the credibility of her company.  If the truth was discovered, it may also lead to complaints from the airlines and clients.  Employees should avoid conflict of interest as far as possible and make timely declarations, strictly adhering to internal guidelines.  Otherwise, they may violate the company’s code of conduct or internal guidelines.

Xenia might commit fraud under Section 16A of the Theft Ordinance by overstating the prices offered by other airlines when submitting quotation to the client.  If Xenia, without the permission of her travel agent, abused her position to favour Xaviera while accepting advantages, she might also be liable under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.  On the other hand, by deceiving her client with inaccurate information, Xenia breached the trust her company and her client placed on her.  As an employee of the travel agent, Xenia should diligently fulfil her duties and exercise discretion fairly and transparently. 

Sally, a purchasing staff member of an airline company, made use of her office to ask the supplier to inflate the service fee and accepted advantages from the supplier as a reward for assisting the latter in obtaining the cleaning service contract without obtaining the approval of the airline company.  Both Sally and Susan might violate Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).

By inviting Susan to submit a bid for the tendering exercise, Sally found herself in a conflict of interest situation.  Sally intentionally concealed the conflict of interest and made false statements on the conflict of interest declaration form to deceive her company, which might also commit Section 9(3) of the POBO or other fraudulent offences.  If fraudulent acts are involved to conceal conflicts for personal gain or to benefit acquaintances, it may lead to other criminal offences such as deception, fraud, false accounting, etc.

Employees must adhere to the company’s guidelines and procedures when conducting procurement and tendering exercises, including the guidelines on handling conflicts of interest.  Employees should avoid conflict of interest as far as possible and make timely declaration strictly following the internal guidelines.  Otherwise, they may violate the company’s code of conduct or internal policies.

Concert tickets are advantages under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  If Rosanne, without obtaining the permission of her airline company, accepted the concert tickets from Rachel for providing preferential treatment in arranging the duty roster, both Rosanne and Rachel might breach Section 9 of the POBO.

According to Section 19 of the POBO, trade custom or practice does not serve as a defence for the offeror and the acceptor of an advantage.  Although the tickets were gifts given to the supervisor during Christmas, this would not be a defence in court.  The court would only consider whether Rosanne obtained the approval from her principal when accepting the concert tickets.

As a managerial staff, Rosanne should not accept advantages or entertainment that are excessive or frequent from subordinates to prevent any perception of bias and to ensure she can carry out her supervisory duties impartially.

Airline staff should stand firm in resisting temptations.  Quinton, a staff member of an airline company, is regarded as an agent.  If he, without the permission of his principal, i.e. the airline company, accepted advantages for abusing his staff privilege of nominating Queenie as a travel companion, he might contravene Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  Queenie, who offered the advantage, might also be guilty of an offence under the POBO.  Quinton should adhere to the company guidelines regarding the nomination of travel companions and not abuse his staff privilege for personal gain.

Quinton’s illegal acts could be attributed to his investment failure and poor financial management, which made him susceptible to financial temptations.  Ultimately, he resorted to taking risks to alleviate his financial burdens.  Employees should always exercise financial prudence and avoid engaging in high-risk investments or gambling activities to prevent falling into corruption traps.

Rebates are considered advantages under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  Patrick might breach Section 9 of the POBO since he accepted advantages from Paul, i.e. free golf trip and the 5% rebate of the freight charges, without obtaining permission from his principal, i.e. the airfreight company, as an inducement for reserving extra cargo space for Paul.  Paul might also breach the POBO as the offeror of the bribe.

Even though Patrick could not allocate the cargo space to Paul, the corruption offence was still pursuable under the law.  According to Section 11 of the POBO, once an agreement to offer and accept a bribe is reached, both the offeror and acceptor of the bribe shall commit an offence even if the acceptor claims that he did not actually carry out the act as agreed.

Although “entertainment” is not an “advantage” under the POBO, it can be a “sweetener” in a corrupt dealing.  Therefore, Patrick should adhere to the company’s code of conduct regarding the acceptance of entertainment from business clients.  He should also decline invitations to meals or entertainment that are excessive in nature or frequency while conducting official duties to avoid any conflict of interest.