A former senior sales manager (D1) of an information technology (IT) service provider (Company A), charged by the ICAC, was (Friday) sentenced to two years' imprisonment at the District Court for accepting about $1.2 million in bribes for placing job orders with subcontractors.

D1, 35, a former senior sales manager of Company A, earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of an agent accepting advantages. The remaining four similar offences against him were put on court file.

Also charged in a separate case but in connection with the investigation were two directors cum shareholders (D2 and D3) of an engineering company (Company B), aged 41 and 42 respectively. They were today jailed for 14 months and five months respectively.

D2 and D3 were also ordered to pay Company A $33,333 and $67,618 as restitution respectively.

They earlier pleaded guilty to a total of five offences - one of offering an advantage to an agent and four of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent.

In sentencing, Deputy Judge Sham Siu-man said corruption, a cancer in the society, must not be allowed to spread. It must be eradicated to protect the interests of the public.

The judge said past cases showed the court had been relentless in dealing with the corrupt. Citing a Court of Appeal ruling, the judge added that unless there were special circumstances, the corrupt must be granted jail sentences as a deterrent.

The court heard that Company A was an IT service provider. Its clients included schools, hospitals, public bodies and private companies.

At the time of the offences, D1 was employed by Company A as a senior sales manager. Among other duties, he was responsible for selecting and awarding job orders to subcontractors.

In 2002, Company A started to award job orders to Company B, a subcontractor of Company A.

D1 solicited advantages from D2 and D3 in return for releasing job payments to Company B by Company A. Between 2003 and 2005, D1 accepted a total of $100,000 in bribes from D2 and D3, the court was told.

The court heard that in mid-2004, D2 left Company B and ran his own business under a new company (Company C), which had become another subcontractor of Company A.

Between December 2004 and October 2008, D1 accepted bribes totalling $940,000 from D2, the court heard.

The court also heard that between January 2006 and October 2008, another company (Company D), also a subcontractor of Company A, obtained cabling jobs for the Hospital Authority from Company A.

D1 accepted about $149,700 in bribes from D2, then a director cum shareholder of Company D, the court was told.

The prosecution in the above two cases was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Vivien Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Samson Lee.