A former construction site supervisor has been jailed six months by Kwun Tong Magistracy for using false attendance records to exploit wages from workers.

So Kwok-ping, 57, formerly employed by Treasure Hill Development (trading as Living Culture), was convicted of eight counts of an agent using a document with intent to deceive his principal. He was also ordered by Magistrate Thomas Chan to return $27,900 to the company.

In February 2004, Living Culture was awarded a project to renovate six two-storey houses at Sienna Garden in Fei Ngo Shan. Living Culture subcontracted the works of one house to an engineering company, of which the defendant was then employed as a site supervisor.

On July 13, 2004, Living Culture terminated the contract due to slow progress. Instead, Living Culture employed the defendant to supervise the Sienna Garden project. He recruited construction workers and offered daily wages of up to $600.

Between July and November 2004, the defendant made false entries into workers' attendance records with inflated wages. He submitted the records to Living Culture, purporting that the workers were employed at the inflated wages.

After the workers received their wages, the defendant asked the workers to return the inflated amounts to him. As a result, the defendant pocketed $27,900.