If Mr Lee accepted advantages from Ms Wong, and agreed to divulge sensitive information to the latter, he would contravene Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  Ms Wong, who offered the bribe, would also commit an offence under POBO.

Protecting patent information is crucial for safeguarding the rights of inventors and organisations, and maintaining a competitive edge in the market.  To prevent, detect and deter similar malpractices, companies are advised to adopt adequate corruption prevention measures in the relevant process.

Case Analysis

Tony may have committed fraud by submitting false quotations to inflate the costs of digital solutions and falsely representing that the applicants had borne the required portion of project costs under the scheme.  Even if the applications were submitted by Tony on behalf of his clients, the SME clients may also incur criminal liability if they knowingly allowed the use of false quotations and supporting documents with the intent of securing approval of the subsidies.

On the other hand, Tony’s attempt to bribe a government official responsible for processing the applications may constitute an offence under Section 4 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.  Section 4 prohibits any person from offering an advantage to a public servant as an inducement to or reward for that public servant’s performing or abstaining from performing any act in his or her official capacity.

To prevent, detect and deter similar malpractices, grantors and applicants of funding schemes are advised to adopt adequate corruption prevention measures in their operations.

Divulging information to unauthorised parties for personal gain is a criminal act under anti-corruption law.  The sales supervisor had committed Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.  Leaking customers’ personal data is also a breach of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and can expose the company to damaging lawsuits.

In a case of this kind, a great deal of time was usually required in identifying the suspect during the investigation, because the client database was open to many staff members for reasons of operating efficiency.  If no security measures were in place to control the retrieval of information, innocent staff would be  unhappy to find that they were suspected of the illegal act when investigation was required.  Besides, some staff members like the sales supervisor in this case might consider it a trivial matter to trade client information for some extra cash, especially when the information was so easily accessible.  

Where important data such as customer details, business plans, product designs, etc., are kept in digital formats, this becomes an area that is vulnerable to corruption and related crimes.  Managers must therefore be vigilant in maintaining the security of valuable information. Irrespective of the format in which it is stored, managers should classify information into different security levels according to the degree of sensitivity and confidentiality.   This helps prevent unauthorised access.

It is crucial that managers inform staff clearly of the serious consequences, both for themselves and for the company, that can result from the unauthorised disclosure of company information. The human resources policy of the company should be regularly reviewed and constantly enforced to provide the necessary deterrents against misconduct, e.g. any breach will result in dismissal and report to the relevant law enforcement agencies.

Under Section 9(1) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, it would be an offence if Tony (an employee), without the approval of his employer (the telephone company), accepted an advantage from Curtis for leaking out clients’ personal data. 

According to Section 2 of the POBO, advantage means any gift, loan, fee, reward or commission, employment, contract, service, favour, payment, release or discharge of loan or liability, etc.  Therefore, a golf club membership offered by Curtis can be regarded as an advantage.

Curtis might also violate Section 9(2) of POBO for offering bribes for the same purpose.

Furthermore, Tony and his company might breach the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance for disclosure of personal data of his clients with an intent to obtain gain or cause loss to the company’s clients or failed to protect the personal data of their clients.

According to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) S.4(1), it is an offence for the owner of the consultancy company to offer advantages (i.e. a loan) to induce a public servant (i.e. the inspector of the government department) to abuse his official capacity by leaking confidential information.  The inspector also violated POBO S.4(2) for accepting bribes in his capacity as a public servant.

Although the department may allow staff to copy information from the computer system into removable storage media for operational need, such arrangement opens up opportunities for information to be leaked.  The use of these media and mobile devices should be properly managed in workplace.  Guidelines alone cannot foster a culture of compliance. Corruption results from inadequately implemented controls and staff misconduct. This case demonstrates that rules are of limited use if no checks are carried out for compliance.  Therefore, managers should always keep a careful eye on subordinates and remind staff to handle conflicts of interest properly.  Misuse of personal data may be a breach of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and can expose the company to damaging lawsuits.  Coaching staff is essential for preventing problems.

Commission is a kind of advantage under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  The sales manager might have breached Section 9 of the POBO for accepting the commission as a reward for him to divulge company’s emails or information to the rival company. The offeror of the advantage might also breach the same law.

Management may take system security for granted, but this kind of oversight can prove costly – business may be diverted to competitors and security controls bypassed with just a few keystrokes.

The web design company should have adopted the necessary safeguards to ensure that the digital information was stored safely and under the control of authorised personnel. Proper audit trail should be maintained to detect and deter fraudulent practices.   Professional consultants can also be hired to review and enhance IT security on a regular basis.  Where these are not done, criminals can carry out acts which may not leave any trace, for example by abusing e-mails to commit crimes.