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Danny Mok

The anti-corruption watchdog has charged a 62-year-old carpenter foreman at Hong Kong’s airport expansion project over allegedly accepting HK$54,000 (US$7,000) in bribes from 10 imported workers to secure their jobs.
Chen Xianliang, working for contractor Gammon Construction, is facing 10 counts of accepting an advantage, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
An investigation, which the ICAC launched after receiving complaints involving alleged wage exploitation, showed that Chen referred the 10 mainland Chinese workers to Gammon for the airport’s new three-runway system.
Upon the workers’ arrival in December 2023, Chen allegedly solicited bribes, each of which ranged from HK$4,800 to HK$5,400, on various occasions. Each worker received a monthly salary of more than HK$37,000.
Chen has been released on bail, pending his court appearance at the West Kowloon Court on Wednesday, where he is expected to enter a plea.
In 2020, the Airport Authority offered Gammon the contract for the project’s automated people mover and baggage handling system. The defendant was also an imported worker employed by Gammon through the Labour Importation Scheme for the Construction Sector.

He was responsible for leading a team of imported workers to perform carpentry works at the construction site, under the supervision of a subcontractor of Gammon.
The ICAC has urged construction workers not to tolerate corruption, saying they should report immediately if they are asked to pay bribes in exchange for their employment.
The spokesman said the Development Bureau and Gammon fully helped the ICAC during its investigation.
The case came to light after Hong Kong authorities announced on Saturday that they would cancel the latest round of applications to bring in imported construction workers as they had to examine whether the relevant companies had tried to hire locally before applying, as per the scheme’s requirements.
The announcement was made days after accusations emerged that migrant workers were being exploited by their management.
Additional reporting by Sammy Heung


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News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Defendant allegedly accepted HK$54,000 in bribes to help 10 imported workers secure their jobs


Defendant allegedly accepted HK$54,000 in bribes to help 10 imported workers secure their jobs.
