Five ventilation mechanics, charged by the ICAC, were today (Friday) sentenced at the District Court for conspiracy to offer bribes for employment in a construction project of Terminal 2 of the Hong Kong International Airport, known as Skyplaza.

D1 to D4, aged 45 to 56, were each sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, suspended for one year. They had been found guilty of one count of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

D5, 35, was sentenced to six month's imprisonment, suspended for one year for a similar charge to which he had earlier pleaded guilty.

The charges alleged that the defendants had respectively conspired with another ventilation mechanic, D6, to offer bribes to the latter in return for employment as ventilation mechanics with a joint venture at the Skyplaza project.

In sentencing, Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong said in view of the seriousness of the bribery offences, he should have meted out custodial sentences. However, considering the relatively passive roles and other mitigating factors of the five defendants, he ordered the jail terms be suspended.

Today, the Judge also ordered D6, 59, who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on June 11, 2010 for 19 counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages, to pay $76,350 in restitution to his former employer.

The court heard that in December 2004, two companies formed a joint venture for the construction project of Skyplaza.

Since mid-2006, the joint venture company began recruiting workers at a daily wage of $700 for the installation and maintenance of the air-conditioning system at Skyplaza.

Due to the remote location of the Airport, the said company encountered difficulties in recruitment, and subsequently asked D6, who was then employed as a worker, to help find ventilation mechanics.

Through D6's introduction, the five defendants were subsequently employed at a daily wage of $700.

The court heard that between June 2006 and March 2007, D6 had respectively conspired with the five defendants for D6 to accept bribes, ranging from $100 to $200 per working day as "introduction fees". The total bribes involved amounted to $76,350.

The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Liza Yip, assisted by ICAC officer Horace Wong.