Albert Leung Wing-keun, a former operations director at Jacobs China Limited (JCL), has become the top executive held accountable for fraudulent activities at a testing laboratory set up to monitor the quality of concrete used in the multi-billion-dollar construction of the 55km-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
District Judge Ada Lim Shunyi on Saturday found Leung guilty of fraud, highlighting that he deliberately failed to report abnormal test results from a laboratory in Xiao Wo Wan, Lantau Island, to authorities in 2016 and 2017 despite authorities knowing about them.
The judge told the West Kowloon Court that Leung should have known in advance that lab workers had replaced real concrete test cubes with steel piles and cubes with higher compressive strength, and had changed computer dates when preparing reports.
She rejected Leong's defence that he did not report the wrongdoing to the Civil Development Authority because, after receiving legal advice, he genuinely believed that the case did not contain any element of wrongdoing.
“The only inference I can think of that is undeniable. [Leung] Any right-thinking person would think that they would have an obligation to publicize the mock exam malpractices. [the department] However, their failure to do so was dishonest,” Judge Lim wrote in his 66-page ruling.
“[Leung] For fraudulent purposes [the department]deliberately concealed irregularities in the mock exams.”
The judge acquitted the department's head, Leslie Harry Swan, finding that he had been excluded from JCL's internal investigation and therefore did not know about the cover-up before the government began its investigation.
Leong was denied bail ahead of his sentencing hearing next Friday, but prison officers allowed him to speak to and hug his family before being transferred to the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre.
In 2021, the Independent Commission Against Corruption indicted two former directors for violating a consultancy contract between JCL and the ministry, which required them to report errors in the performance of services.
The corruption watchdog reported its findings about the lab's falsified test reports to authorities shortly after the lab paid more than HK$1.97 million to JCL for satisfactory results.
The bureau was forced to spend an additional HK$58 million to review about 400,000 inspection reports and re-run tests on 221 points on the bridge and 1,355 concrete samples.
A court previously convicted 19 laboratory employees of defrauding the government or using false documents in connection with the case. All received sentences ranging from eight to 32 months in prison on fraud-related charges.
The fraud charge carries a prison sentence of 14 years, but if tried in district court the maximum sentence is seven years.
