William, as a ticketing officer of a travel agent, without obtaining permission from his employer, solicited and accepted advantages from customers for prioritising the sale of discounted tickets to them.  Both William and the clients who offered the advantages might contravene Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).

Employees of travel agents should always handle customer requests impartially.  William disclosed the upcoming special offers of air tickets to several regular customers while intentionally recommending high-fare tickets to others.  Such an act breached professional integrity and negatively impacted the reputation of the travel agent.  If employees accept advantages to provide preferential treatment, it creates dissatisfaction or complaints from other customers and constitutes a violation of the POBO.

On the other hand, William should exercise prudent financial management and avoid risking his position due to debt, as this could lead to criminal offences. William’s illegal acts could be attributed to his 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 to prevent falling into corruption traps.

Dried seafood is an advantage under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  If Victor, without obtaining the permission of his travel agent, accepted the gift from Vincent in exchange for preferential treatment in arranging the tour roster, Victor and Vincent might breach Section 9 of the POBO.  Even if Victor believed that Vincent was capable of leading high-spending tour groups and that acceptance of gift from Vincent would not influence his decision regarding the tour roster, it is no defence for Victor to accept the advantage. 

Additionally, according to Section 19 of the POBO, trade custom or practice does not constitute a defence for the offeror and the acceptor of an illegal advantage.  Although the gift were given to Victor during a festive occasion, this was not a defence in court.  The court would only consider whether Victor obtained approval from his employer.

As a manager, Victor should refrain from accepting advantages from subordinates to avoid any perception of bias and to ensure he can carry out his supervisory duties impartially.

When recommending shop registration to the travel agent, tourist guides should consider product quality, pricing, and services to ensure customer satisfaction and preserve the travel agent’s reputation.  If any acceptance of advantage is involved, regardless of the recommendation’s outcome, it would constitute a corruption offence.  Yvette, as a tourist guide, is regarded as an agent.  Without the permission of her principal, i.e. her travel agent, she abused her official capacity by accepting money and shop discounts from York as an inducement to recommend the handbag shop for registration.  She might breach Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and York as the offeror of the bribe might also be liable for the offence.

Even if the travel agent did not eventually accept Yvette's recommendation to register the handbag shop, both Yvette and York might still commit an offence once an agreement to offer and accept a bribe is established, according to Section 11 of the POBO.  Furthermore, if Yvette arranged inbound tourists to patronise non-registered shops, she would also violate the “Directives for Licensees”.

According to Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO), it is an offence for an employee to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to his official duty without the permission of his employer.  Timothy, as an employee of a travel agent, solicited and accepted an additional rebate from Tom without the permission of the travel agent while carrying out his duties.  Therefore, both Timothy and Tom might breach the POBO.

Tom should promptly report Timothy’s solicitation to the ICAC.  By misleading tourists into purchasing purported branded goods, Tom not only jeopardised his company’s reputation, but also put the integrity of Hong Kong’s tourism industry at risk.

According to Section 19 of the POBO, trade custom or practice does not constitute a defence for the offeror and the acceptor of an illegal advantage.  Timothy should adhere to the company’s policies regarding the acceptance of advantages to avoid engaging in illegal or unethical behaviour.  Despite his role as a Mainland tour escort, Troy should also comply with the POBO and other laws while escorting the group in Hong Kong.