8 November, 2016
On 29 September 2016, the District Court sentenced the subcontractor in the Garden Vista case to 35 months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent.
The former owner of the construction company admitted that, between 2005 and 2014, he conspired with members of a bid-rigging cartel to offer HKD 45 million in bribes to various persons involved the management of two residential estates in Hong Kong. In exchange, the bid-riggers secured bids for consultancy and building renovation services at the residential estates. Renovation costs for one of these estates, Garden Vista, exceeded HKD 260 million.
The judge reduced the sentence to account for the fact that the defendant pleaded guilty and collaborated with the Independent Commission against Corruption, and that the case raised homeowners’ awareness of the problems in the building maintenance sector.
The Competition Commission noted the sentence in a press release and invited the public to report potential bid-rigging to the Commission.
For further information, please contact:
Clara Ingen-Housz, Partner, Linklaters
clara.ingen-housz@linklaters.com
