6 men charged in connection with HK$830,000 waste-dumping fraud at Hong Kong landfill site

6 charged in connection with HK$830,000 construction waste-dumping fraud at landfill site

Reading Time:2 minutes

Six men have been charged in connection with the alleged fraudulent dumping of tonnes of construction waste at a Fanling landfill site. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 11:31pm, 11 Jun 2024Updated: 12:22am, 12 Jun 2024

Six people have been charged by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog for allegedly giving and taking favours in the form of cash, mooncakes, rice dumplings and soft drinks for the free dumping of construction waste at a landfill site that should have generated HK$830,000 (US$106,265) in fees.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Tuesday those charged were aged from 31 to 66 and included four Far East Landfill Technologies employees – waste inspector Mak Wah-sing, weighbridge operators Chung Pui-chun, Cheung Kam-ning and Chung Ching-kwan.

The company is a contractor for the Environmental Protection Department.

The two others charged were truck driver Mak Kim-kwan and Lin Wenjian, employees of TS Industrial Materials Recycle.

The ICAC alleges the six conspired to defraud the Environmental Protection Department between January 2021 and June 2022 by disguising construction waste as normal trash for disposal at the Fanling landfill site.

The body also alleges the truck driver was warned in advance when the department was scheduled to carry out inspections, which allowed TS Industrial Materials Recycle avoid construction debris disposal charges at the site, which handles a variety of waste types.

Trucks loaded with construction waste are required to use a special entrance, show department-issued documents to weighbridge operators and disposal charges, which was HK$200 (US$25.60) a tonne (1.1 tons).