Male Director Incited Friend at Trade Development Council to Leak Confidential Information, Convicted of Misconduct in Public Office

A male company director has been convicted of aiding, abetting, inciting, or procuring another person to commit misconduct in public office.

The case alleged that between 2018 and 2019, he incited a female friend, then an Assistant Manager at the Trade Development Council, to leak confidential tender information for an online business platform enhancement project, including assessment criteria and the contents of other bids, in order to help his company secure a contract worth over HK$2.3 million.

Key points of this article: The defendant, Chow Hang Yip, is a director and shareholder of AF Trinity Technologies Limited (ATTL), and was charged with one count of aiding, abetting, inciting, or procuring another person to commit misconduct in public office.

His co-defendant, Leung Sui Ying, then an Assistant Manager at the Trade Development Council, had earlier pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and was sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.

Magistrate Lam Tsz Hong pointed out that the defendant had sent a message asking to see other suppliers' technical proposals, which constituted encouragement and incitement to misconduct.

The tender for the online business platform enhancement project involved was worth over HK$2.3 million.

The case: leaking confidential tender information to help the company win the bid The charge alleged that between about 20 December 2018 and 28 March 2019, the defendant Chow Hang Yip aided, abetted, incited, or procured a public officer, then Assistant Manager at the Trade Development Council Leung Sui Ying, to commit misconduct while holding public office.

The specific acts included leaking confidential tender information about the project to Chow, assisting Chow during the tender period in drafting and preparing ATTL's technical proposal and in preparing the oral presentation, and concealing from the Trade Development Council that ATTL would subcontract part of the project work to another company.

Magistrate's ruling: the message constituted incitement In his ruling, Magistrate Lam Tsz Hong noted that although the prosecution's evidence against Chow was limited and the female defendant had initially leaked the confidential information on her own initiative, Chow had sent Leung a voice message on 26 February 2019 asking, "Can I take a look at other people's proposals?" Leung then immediately sent him the technical proposals of three bidding companies.

The magistrate considered that this had the effect of encouraging and inciting the misconduct, and Leung later devoted considerable effort to assisting Chow, seriously undermining the tender system.

Chow must also have been aware that Leung's conduct amounted to serious misconduct, and he was therefore convicted.

Defence mitigation and adjournment of the case In mitigation, defence Senior Counsel Wong Pui Kei said the defendant had previously been law-abiding and had taken part in public service.

The case occurred about 8 years ago and has had a great impact on him, and his chance of reoffending is low.

She hoped the court would consider imposing a community service order or a suspended sentence.

The magistrate adjourned the case to 14 October for sentencing, and the defendant was allowed to continue on bail pending a community service order report.

The case number is ESCC532/2025.

The post 男董事慫使貿發局友人洩密 公職人員行為失當罪成 appeared first on 星島日報 .