Foreman working on Zhuhai Bridge jailed 15 months

Monday 27th of April 2015

A senior foreman working on the Zhuhai-Macau bridge was sentenced to 15 months in jail after being found guilty of trying to bribe a contractor to accept substandard materials his company purchased.

The South China Morning Post reported that Lee Shu-shan, 44, attempted to offer a Macau casino chip worth HK$50,000 to Shum Po-kit on two occasions two years ago. Lee was convicted of two counts of offering an advantage to an agent.

Tsuen Wan Court magistrate Amy Chan Wai-mun said Lee’s offence was serious due to the scale of the project involved and denied his bail application.

"Your lawyer also agrees that [your offence] is serious as the fact of the case involves a massive Hong Kong infrastructure project," she was quoted as saying.

Lee worked for China Harbour Engineering at the time while Shum was a staff member of Ove Arup, a firm assigned to inspect the quality of rockfill Lee's company bought. The rockfill was used to fill up structures that support artificial islands constructed at the bridge site, the SCMP reported.

The court heard that in 2013, Shum told Lee that the rockfill that was being purchased from a firm called Win Sino did not meet standards. The next day, Lee tried to offer Shum the chip in question. The Independent Commission Against Corruption arrested Lee last year after it was tipped off by Shum and his boss.