Ex-professor wanted by Hong Kong anti-corruption agency over alleged HK$4 million fraud scheme detained in Poland
A former university professor wanted by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency in connection with an alleged HK$4 million (US$512,030) procurement fraud scheme has been detained in Poland.
Yeung Lam-lung, a former adjunct associate professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s department of chemistry, faces 17 charges in relation to the case, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Yeung, 59, faced three conspiracy to defraud charges and 14 counts of fraud, it said.
The agency alleges he conspired with two others – Au Yeung Siu-fung and Yeung Siu-on – to defraud the university by concealing his interest in two supply companies.
The former professor is alleged to have induced the university to engage the two suppliers in 17 tendering and procurement exercises to buy laboratory equipment and testing services between 2011 and 2019.
The exercises involved about HK$4 million in payments to the two suppliers, Chun Fo (Asia) Pharmaceutical Co and PIT, in which Yeung had direct or indirect financial interests, the ICAC said.
It said Yeung Siu-on became PIT’s sole director and shareholder in late 2011, For the other supplier, he was its sole director and shareholder when it was incorporated in mid-2012. Au Yeung Siu-fung took over the position in late 2012.
The professor was required to declare a conflict of interest with any suppliers before engaging them in accordance with the regulations. Suppliers were also required to declare whether any university staff had an interest in them.
As Yeung had left Hong Kong when his alleged accomplices were charged in September 2022, a warrant for his arrest was issued by a court in October that year after an application by the ICAC.
An Interpol “red notice” was issued for his arrest last August, and the ICAC was notified by the body late last month that Yeung had been detained by Polish authorities at an international airport.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice has applied for his provisional arrest under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, to which Hong Kong and Poland are signatories.
An ICAC spokesman said a formal request for the surrender of the former professor was being prepared.
Yeung Siu-on was sentenced to 28 months in jail at the District Court in October last year after he pleaded guilty to 11 counts of conspiracy to defraud and fraud.
The case against Au Yeung Siu-fung, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud and fraud, was adjourned to December 19.
