HONG KONG Law and Practice Contributed by: Gareth Hughes, Emily Lam, Philip Rohlik and Tiffany Wu, Debevoise & Plimpton
sons prosecuted included, among others, site team leaders of a sub-contractor who had the authority to assign work to fellow construction workers, from whom they solicited and accepted bribes in exchange for employment. The prosecutions began in Decem - ber 2024, and at least four individuals have been con - victed of accepting bribes from workers with custodial sentences ranging from three months to two years; Individuals arrested by the ICAC concerning the Third Runway Project of the Hong Kong International Airport were charged with bribery and other offences, includ - ing conspiracy for agents to accept advantages, and conspiracy to do an act intended to pervert the course of justice. see 7.6 Level of Sanctions Imposed . 7.6 Level of Sanctions Imposed Of the three individuals who pleaded guilty to the charges, the court handed down the longest custo - dial sentence of two years to one of the defendants, while the two others received three-month sentences. All three defendants had also conspired to instruct some workers to make false statements to ICAC offic - ers to say that they had not paid any bribes. The site team leader who was sentenced to two years in prison was identified as the mastermind and had instructed two other site team leaders to accept bribes totalling approximately HKD700,000 from around 80 workers. Given his key role and involvement, the court consid - ered that a more severe sentence was warranted to reflect the severity of the matter. Also, in relation to the same project, there was a sep - arate incident where another team leader solicited bribes from a crane operator in exchange for con - tinuing the latter’s employment. Although the team leader did not actually receive any bribes as the crane operator subsequently resigned and did not respond to the solicitation, the team leader was still convicted of bribery and sentenced to six month’ imprisonment.
and failure to prevent corruption is not a crime in Hong Kong. However, financial institutions may be required, under applicable regulations or codes of conduct, to have in place adequate internal controls and resources to prevent corruption. For instance, any person regulated by the SFC is required to have internal control proce - dures and financial and operational capabilities that can be reasonably expected to protect its operations, clients and other licensed or registered persons from financial loss arising from theft, fraud and any other dishonest act, which would include corruption. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary action being taken against the regulated person. 8.2 Compliance Guidelines and Best Practices Although the POBO does not impose a statutory duty to set up a compliance programme, the ICAC never - theless provides guidance on expectations and best practices for corruption prevention. Suggested meas - ures include establishing a strong anti-corruption culture within the organisation, implementing robust internal control systems to include the adoption and enforcement of effective policies and procedures, pro - viding training on corruption prevention and raising awareness, and offering protection to whistle-blowers. 8.3 Compliance Monitorships There is currently no legislation in Hong Kong that provides for compliance monitorship as a part of corporate resolutions. However, it is not uncommon for regulators, such as the HKMA and the SFC, to require regulated entities to appoint an external advi - sor to assess and enhance the effectiveness of its internal control system as part of the remedial actions imposed in disciplinary proceedings. 9. Assessment 9.1 Assessment of the Applicable Enforced Legislation In February 2012, the Independent Review Committee for the Prevention and Handling of Potential Conflicts of Interests (IRC) was set up to conduct a review of the regulatory framework for the prevention and handling
8. Compliance Expectations 8.1 Compliance Obligations
The POBO does not impose any statutory duty to set up a compliance programme to prevent corruption,
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