A Leisure & Cultural Services Department curator was sentenced to 240 hours of community service at Kowloon City Magistracy today for deceiving the Antiquities & Monuments Office into granting a $50,000 archaeological survey contract to an unqualified contractor.

Chau Hing-wah, 44, and 43-year-old Field Archaeological Consultant proprietor Lee Yu-sing were earlier found guilty on a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud the office.

Lee, who was further convicted of six similar charges, was jailed for six months.

The case arose from a corruption complaint, alleging that a staff member of the office might have accepted advantages for awarding contracts to an archaeology company.

Unqualified company handed survey, excavation contracts

Inquiries revealed a scam in which the defendants fraudulently deceived the office into granting archaeological survey and excavation contracts to an archaeology company that was not qualified to bid for such contracts.

Archaeological contractors are prohibited to enter into more than one contract with the office at any one time.

The court heard that between January and November 2001, Lee instructed a number of the consultant's employees to bid for the office's contracts, knowing that the company had an existing contract with the office.

Lee falsely represented to the office that the company's employees would undertake the archaeological and excavation works stated in these contracts.

The employees, upon receiving the contract payments issued by the office, returned the money to Lee who performed some of the archaeological and excavation works.

With the assistance of Chau, the office was deceived into granting an archaeological contract, worth about $50,000, to one of the company's employees, the court heard.

The court also heard that Lee, by similar means, deceived the office into granting another six contracts, worth about $200,000 in total.