A then bank manager charged by ICAC was today (August 24) convicted at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts of breaching the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) by disclosing to a family member that he was under ICAC investigation.

Lau Shui-ngo, 44, former customer services manager of Chiyu Banking Corporation Limited (Chiyu Bank), was found guilty after trial of one count of disclosing the identity, etc. of a person being investigated, contrary to section 30(1)(a) of the POBO.

In convicting the defendant, Magistrate Mr Tsang Chung-yiu noted that the spirit of Section 30 of the POBO is to prohibit any person from leaking information regarding ICAC investigations to prevent those under investigation from being alerted. The law therefore explicitly prohibits any act of disclosing ICAC investigations. The magistrate adjourned the case to September 4 for sentencing, pending the defendant’s community service order report and granted her bail.

The court heard that in late January 2025, the ICAC wrote to Chiyu Bank requesting information on an account related to an ongoing investigation. The letter was subsequently passed to its Tokwawan branch, where the account was opened. As the defendant was deployed to the branch at that time, and her duties included handling enquiries from law enforcement agencies, she was authorised to access the ICAC letter and learned that the account in question had been opened by a family member of hers.

Although the ICAC letter carried a reminder that the request and the information contained in the letter were confidential and should be carefully protected, and that disclosure of such confidential information could constitute a breach of the POBO, the defendant nonetheless disclosed to her family member that he was the subject of an ICAC investigation.

Under section 30 of the POBO, any person who discloses details of an investigation or the identity of a subject without lawful authority or reasonable excuse shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a maximum penalty of one year’s imprisonment and a fine of $25,000.

Chiyu Bank had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Sabrina See, assisted by ICAC officer Paul Chiu.
 

A then bank employee, charged by the ICAC, admitted at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts today (August 11) that she had accepted RMB500 in bribes for each client referred by an intermediary who successfully opened a bank account.

Pan Xiuzhen, 30, then relationship manager of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Standard Chartered Bank), pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

Principal Magistrate Mr David Cheung Chi-wai adjourned the case to October 9 for sentencing and granted the defendant bail.

The court heard that at the material time, the defendant was posted to a branch of Standard Chartered Bank in Central. Her duties included assisting new clients in opening bank accounts. She admitted to accepting bribes from an intermediary between November 2023 and April 2024 to facilitate account openings for clients referred by the intermediary, with each successful account opening accepting a bribe of RMB500.

The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that during the offence period, the defendant had successfully assisted 16 clients referred by the intermediary to open bank accounts and accepted bribes totalling RMB8,000.

Standard Chartered Bank had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Benny Chang.