Four people have been jailed eight months by the District Court for conspiring to defraud the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department over the subcontracting of seven cleaning contracts.

They were Wai Hong Waste Management director and general manager Ha Kam-kaye, 72, who was convicted on three counts of conspiracy to defraud, and A&T Service Company operator Wong Siu-sing, 43, Ming Kee Cleaning Services proprietor Ng Wai-ming, 39, and Wai Shing Cleaning Company proprietor Tam Man-kwong, 57, who were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud.

Between October 2001 and October 2004, Wai Hong Cleaning & Pest Control Company was awarded seven cleaning contracts worth over $106 million. Between June 2001 and December 2003, Ha and Wong falsely represented to the department that Wong and the cleaning workers recruited by him were all Wai Hong employees.

They concealed that two of the contracts, valued at about $46 million for the provision of cleaning services awarded by the department to Wai Hong by way of tender, had been subcontracted to Wong. They also falsely represented that the contracts were performed by Wai Hong and had not been subcontracted to others.

Ha and Ng were convicted of a similar offence in relation to the subcontracting of three other cleaning contracts, worth about $36 million, between January 2002 and October 2004. Ha and Tam were found guilty of another similar offence, which took place between August 2001 and October 2004, in relation to the subcontracting of two other cleaning contracts valued at about $24 million.

Had the department known that the contracts would be subcontracted by Wai Hong, it might not have awarded the contracts to the company.