Hong Kong police have arrested a married couple suspected of defrauding the government in connection with a HK$52.9 million (US$6.8 million) contract to supply drinking water to civil service offices.
Kung Hing-fun, the senior superintendent of the force’s commercial crime bureau, said on Monday that the man, 61, and woman, 57, were arrested the previous day.
Kung added the married couple were the owners of a company that had secured a 36-month water deal, and that a mainland Chinese man was still at large. The Post learned the company was Xin Ding Xin Co Ltd.
She also said that the deal stipulated supplying bottled water to certain government offices, but the product was sourced from a third-party supplier in Dongguan rather than a Guangzhou-based company as specified in the contract. The Post also learned that the company in the contract was Robust (Guangdong).
Wong Chun-yue, the bureau’s chief superintendent, said the Guangzhou firm learned from the news that it was selected as the contract supplier, adding that the company that entered into the agreement only asked once about water quality and had no further communication.
“We believe the suspects used the Guangzhou company’s water quality documents to meet tender requirements,” Wong said.
