Ex-airline ground crew member charged by ICAC gets 20 months’ jail for accepting bribes from human smuggling syndicate

The ICAC cracked a corruption case in 2009, charging two members of a human smuggling syndicate and two former airline ground crew members who assisted in smuggling travellers to other countries via the Hong Kong International Airport. Another former airline ground crew member, who had been wanted by the ICAC, was charged upon returning to Hong Kong after fleeing over 15 years. He was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment at the District Court today (July 29) after entering a guilty plea.

Tsui Ying-kit, 45, former customer services officer of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (Cathay Pacific), was arrested by the ICAC in August 2009 for his alleged involvement in a human smuggling bribery scam. A warrant for his arrest was subsequently issued by the magistrates’ courts after he failed to report bail to the ICAC. Upon returning to Hong Kong in July 2025, he was charged by the ICAC.

The defendant today pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

Deputy District Judge Mr Timothy Casewell imposed a jail term of 20 months on the defendant and ordered him to make restitution of $18,000, equivalent to the bribe amount involved, to Cathay Pacific.

The offences took place between September 2008 and August 2009. At the material time, the defendant was a customer services officer of Cathay Pacific tasked with carrying out check-in procedures for passengers at the Hong Kong International Airport.

The court heard that the defendant conspired with two other ground crew members of Cathay Pacific to assist passengers arranged by a human smuggling syndicate to check in for their flights. Through prior checking with Cathay Pacific’s computer system, the trio expedited the check-in procedures for these travellers, and alerted the syndicate to any security checks on them.

The ICAC investigation revealed that the defendant and the two ground crew members had issued boarding passes to the travellers arranged by the human smuggling syndicate. In return, the defendant accepted bribes ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 per traveller, totalling $18,000.

In May 2010, the ICAC charged two members of the human smuggling syndicate and two former ground crew members of Cathay Pacific. The four defendants, who pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages, were sentenced to jail terms of 14 to 20 months at the District Court in February 2011.

Cathay Pacific rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Timothy Chen, assisted by ICAC officer Edward Wong.