A former assistant project manager of a construction engineering company has been jailed 33 months by the District Court for accepting $420,000 in bribes from subcontractors in relation to a Civil Engineering & Development Department landslip preventive measures project.

Edmund Lau, 41, formerly employed by Barbican Construction Company, was found guilty of five counts of accepting an advantage, and one of conspiracy to offer advantages.

In June 2004 the department awarded a $74 million contract to Barbican Construction Company. Barbican then subcontracted various parts of the works to other companies. Lau was responsible for short-listing subcontractors, supervising their works and making recommendations for the payment of project fees.

Between June and August 2004 the defendant helped Lai Kam-fuk, proprietor of Fuk Shing, prepare a tender to bid for a subcontract of slope maintenance works. The defendant solicited 5% of the profits to be generated from the subcontract as a reward.  Lai agreed to the deal.

In November 2004 Barbican accepted the tender and entered a subcontract with Fuk Shing with an estimated project sum of $44 million. As a result the defendant accepted $100,000 in bribes from Lai.

The defendant accepted $120,000 and $200,000 from So Wing-shan, a major shareholder-cum-operator of Wealth Success, and an operator of Workbase Engineering respectively. In return Wealth Success was awarded four subcontracts worth $9.5 million while two subcontracts valued at $13.7 million were signed with Workbase Engineering.

Lai, 54, was earlier sentenced to nine months' jail for his role in the case. So, 56, faces trial November 2.