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Brian Wong

A former customer services officer with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific has been jailed for one year and eight months for accepting at least HK$18,000 (US$2,295) in bribes to help smuggle mainland Chinese travellers overseas 17 years ago.
Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages at Tsuen Wan Court, which now handles District Court cases.
The defendant had been on the run since jumping bail in October 2009, before returning from mainland China to surrender in July last year.
In 2009, the Independent Commission Against Corruption arrested Tsui and two other Cathay customer services officers for accepting bribes to ensure an unspecified number of ineligible mainland passengers could check in for their flights and go through security checks between September 2008 and August that year.
The watchdog also arrested two men who acted as escorts accompanying the travellers to check in at Hong Kong International Airport.
A prosecution summary said Tsui had accessed Cathay’s computer system to check flight information and security details so that the travellers he intended to smuggle overseas could receive their boarding passes without complication.
The defendant admitted receiving at least HK$18,000 from two human smuggling syndicates during the offence period, while offering up to HK$2,000 to his two then colleagues every time they rendered help to the scheme.
He added that his role was limited to issuing boarding passes to the mainland travellers and that he was not responsible for ensuring that they boarded their flights.
Defence counsel said Tsui had paid a substantial price for spending nearly 16 years living as a fugitive, adding that modern-day technology had made it impossible for crime syndicates to smuggle travellers simply by bribing airport staff.
Deputy Judge Timothy Casewell agreed, saying it was a “historic” case with little implication for today’s aviation industry.
He ruled that the defendant was not entitled to the standard one-third discount for defendants pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, as that would risk encouraging suspects to avoid legal proceedings.
The court jailed Tsui for 1½ years on each count before ordering that some of the sentences run consecutively, for a total term of one year and eight months.
The defendant is also required to pay HK$18,000 in restitution to his former employer in six instalments following his release.
Former Cathay Pacific customer services officers Gordon Ng Ka-wah and Tan Wei-menn, as well as Patrick Cheung Chun-wah and Thomas Chan Kin-hung, were jailed for 14 to 20 months in February 2011 after pleading guilty at the District Court to five counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages.
They were also fined HK$9,000 to HK$20,000, which represented their respective profits from the scheme.
The offence is punishable by up to seven years in jail and a HK$500,000 fine under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.


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News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleads guilty to accepting at least HK$18,000 to help ineligible passengers check in for their flights


Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleads guilty to accepting at least HK$18,000 to help ineligible passengers check in for their flights.


Crime in Hong Kong

Cathay Pacific

China

Ex-Cathay employee gets 20 months’ jail for taking bribes in human smuggling case

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleads guilty to accepting at least HK$18,000 to help ineligible passengers check in for their flights

Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleads guilty to accepting at least HK$18,000 to help ineligible passengers check in for their flights