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Solicitation of Rebate
Solicitation of Rebate
2019-03-04
Corruption Prevention Advisory Service
The Corruption Prevention Advisory Service (CPAS) is a specialised unit in the Corruption Prevention Department of the Independent Commission Against Corruption which provides free, confidential and tailor-made corruption prevention advice and services to private companies, organisations and individuals. CPAS would like to share with you a retail industry-related case on solicitation of rebate:
The Case
A manager of a supermarket chain was responsible for overseeing the operation of some 20 stores of the group. At a liaison dinner with food suppliers, he met a director of a company supplying roast meat.
Knowing that the company director was eager to do business with the supermarket, the manager offered to help him obtain a concessionaire contract for roast meat at one of the supermarket stores, provided that the director would rebate him 5% of the sales generated from the stall. The director agreed. Later, the supermarket manager also assisted the roast meat company in obtaining concessionaire contracts for stalls at other stores.
The manager accepted over $50,000 from the company director over a six-month period.
Offences Committed
The manager, an employee (i.e. agent) of the supermarket, solicited and accepted a rebate (i.e. an advantage) as a reward for assisting the company director in obtaining the various business contracts, which was an act relating to his principal's (i.e. the supermarket) affairs. As he did not have the supermarket's permission in accepting the rebate, he had contravened Section 9(1) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO). The company director had violated Section 9(2) of the POBO by offering the advantage under such circumstances. The supermarket manager was eventually sentenced to imprisonment.
Case in Perspective
The offender, being a senior staff with good remuneration package in a renowned company, ruined his career and reputation for just a few ten thousand dollars. Because of coverage of the case in the media, the image of the supermarket chain had also been adversely affected.
For enquiries and requests for corruption prevention advice and services, please contact the CPAS at (tel) 2526 6363, (fax) 2522 9595 or (email) cpas@cpd.icac.org.hk. You can also visit the CPAS web portal for timely and useful resources on corruption prevention, such as corruption prevention guides and tools (with a built-in search function), case studies, quick tips as well as red flags.
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