20 arrested in Hong Kong bribery scandal

Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has arrested 20 people for alleged corruption in the award of Highways Department (HyD) contracts. Five of those arrested were HyD officials, and local media reports also say Hong Kong's former director of civil engineering, Tsao Tak-Kiang has also been detained.

According to the ICAC, HyD staff had sold tender information and confidential documents to subcontractors to help them secure contracts. The spate of arrests began when a department senior engineer was caught accepting an envelope containing HK$ 20000 (US$ 2580) in cash from a sub-contractor.

Subsequent enquiries led to the arrest of the department's chief engineer and three inspectors, along with a total of 15 individuals from un-named contracting companies. The ICAC said these included company executives.

HyD has said it will co-operate fully with the ICAC investigation, and that it may take action itself against companies involved in bribery.

"Companies involved in the case will also be investigated. We will consider subjecting them to regulatory action imposed by the government with respect to public works contracts, which may include removal of convicted contractors from registered lists eligible for tendering for public works contracts," it said in a statement.