A former cleaning inspector and cleaning subcontractor for Citybus have been jailed for taking over $220,000 in bribes. The inspector Wong Chi-kwong, 46, was jailed 23 months, while subcontractor Lok How-chuen, 47, was jailed 20 months.

Deputy Judge Henry Mierczak reprimanded the defendants for committing such serious offences, which lasted for a long period. They admitted to one joint charge of conspiracy to accept advantages.

The court heard Citybus awarded cleaning contracts to Wing Hang Service Company and Man Shing Cleaning Service Company. Wong oversaw the cleaning firms' work. Lok was originally employed by Wing Hang as a supervisor. In October 2001, he resigned and worked as a cleaning subcontractor.

Citybus would impose fines on the contractors should the cleaning work fail to meet the required standard. Between October 2001 and December 2003, Lok paid Wong an aggregate sum of $188,805 for the latter's lax supervision.

To conceal the bribes, Wong instructed Lok to account for the payments as salaries paid to a certain worker, who in fact had never performed any cleaning work at the Fotan depot.