The ICAC has charged a Leisure & Cultural Services Department curator and a consultant firm owner for alleged fraud over $250,000 worth of archaeological survey and excavation projects.

Chau Hing-wah, 44, and Lee Yu-sing, 43, proprietor of Field Archaeological Consultant, will appear in Kowloon City Magistracy tomorrow to face seven counts of conspiracy to defraud the department's Antiquities & Monuments Office.

They also face one joint charge of conspiring with a contractor to defraud the office.

The charge accuses the defendants of falsely representing that the contractor would undertake the role of co-ordinator in relation to an archaeological survey project.

Lee further faces six counts of conspiring with three other contractors to defraud the office by falsely representing that these contractors would undertake various archaeological surveys and excavations in relation to six other projects.

The defendants are alleged to have deceived the office into granting the contracts by fraudulent means.

The alleged offences took place between January and November 2001.