Appeals Court Increases Sentences in Fraud Case Related to Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

An appeals court in Hong Kong has raised the sentences of 11 laboratory workers at a contractor who were found guilty of falsifying test results for materials used to build the 55-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world’s longest sea crossing.

They are among the 18 workers of Jacobs China Ltd. who in 2019 were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and handed down sentences or community service orders. However, their sentences were increased to up to two years in prison after the city’s judicial authorities deemed the original punishments to be too light and sought a review.

A three-judge bench at the Court of Appeal of the High Court handed the sentences Friday after the review. Citing a written judgment, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a report that this case was “particularly serious” compared to other cases of its kind.

The judges wrote that the original sentences imposed on the defendants were “too lenient and had gravely and unreasonably” differed from the jail terms of their accomplices who pleaded guilty earlier on.

The 11 involved in the conspiracy include eight site laboratory technicians and three laboratory assistants of Jacobs China.

In May 2017, the ICAC detained 21 Jacobs China workers for allegedly faking test results for materials used to build the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge between 2013 and 2016. Among them, a total of 18 people were charged with conspiracy to defraud.

In January 2019, their first trial began at the Hong Kong High Court. Six of them pleaded guilty and were jailed for 21 to 32 months. Among the remaining 12 who were convicted, six were sentenced to three to 24 months in prison, four were given two to eight months with a two-year suspension, and two were ordered to do free community service for no more than 10 days.

The Hong Kong Department of Justice subsequently filed an appeal, seeking a review of the dozen people’s sentences as the judicial authority argued the punishments were “too lenient” and did not reflect the defendants’ involvement in the conspiracy and the responsibilities they should bear. The appeal was heard this April.

According to the July judgment (link in Chinese) posted on the website of Hong Kong Judiciary, the case was “particularly serious” as the defendants’ actions would “significantly” undermine public confidence in the quality and safety of the bridge.

Given the scale and importance of the bridge, it was an “extremely severe crime” to defraud public officials and let them verify the bridge’s concrete quality by using the false test reports, the judgment said.

The Court of Appeal eventually decided to increase the jail terms of 11 defendants to up to two years and upheld the original sentence for the other defendant who has already served two years behind bars.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is a signature project in an ambitious Beijing initiative to integrate the Pearl River Delta region. It puts the three cities of Zhuhai, Macao and Hong Kong within an hour’s commute of each other, with a total cost of more than 127 billion yuan ($18.8 billion). The bridge opened for service in 2018 after nearly nine years of construction.

Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com)

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