Two former Sincere department store staff have been jailed by the District Court for bribery and fraud in relation to the purchase of computers and related equipment.

The store's former manager Chan Ka-chuen, 42, was found guilty of two counts of accepting advantages and two of fraud and jailed two years and four months. He was also ordered to pay Sincere $106,100 in restitution. The store's former analyst programmer Shaw Yuk-wing, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of offering advantages and two of fraud, and was jailed for one year and four months.

They were arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption last October. At the time of the offences, Chan was responsible for approving competitive quotations and monitor the accuracy of invoices submitted by Shaw in relation to the purchase of computer hardware and software products.

Since March 2004, Shaw submitted to Sincere quotations and invoices of Sky Phoenix International as a supplier of computer equipment. Sky Phoenix was a company controlled by Shaw, who used the company to deceive Sincere, purchasing computer equipment from other suppliers and then re-selling them to the store after marking up the prices. All quotations and invoices of Sky Phoenix in relation to transactions with Sincere were compiled and signed by Shaw.

In January last year Shaw began to use I-Auto as his sham supplier, and engaged in a similar fraudulent scheme to deceive Sincere. As a result, Shaw had deceived Sincere of $970,000 in total. Between June 2004 and October 2005 Chan had accepted from Shaw bribe payments totalling $106,100 for conniving to the scam.