A wholesaler has been jailed nine months for offering over $12,000 in bribes to secure business from a restaurant group.

Wong Man-kwong, 51, former Sun Ying Kee Vegetable & Fruit proprietor, was found guilty of 16 counts of offering an advantage to an agent at Kowloon City Magistracy today.

Sun Ying Kee was a wholesaler supplying vegetables to restaurants. Among its customers were two restaurants under Tao Heung Holdings in Tuen Mun and Tsing Yi.

To secure purchase orders from Tao Heung, Wong offered monthly rebates of $500 and $300 to two warehouse attendants at the Tuen Mun and Tsing Yi restaurants.

Wong later increased the rebates to 3% of the monthly business turnover with the two restaurants, after the warehouse attendants complained the vegetables supplied were inferior and delivery was late.