Trucking firm Ruming allegedly rigged a tender for Salvation Army’s collection service logistics

Authorities have charged the owner of a trucking firm with conspiracy to defraud a welfare organisation for his part in a HK$140,000 swindle against the Salvation Army’s recycling programme.

According to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Ruming Logistics operator Butt Wai-lun, 53, engineered false quotations for the tender exercise of the Salvation Army’s furniture recycling programme.

Salvation Army offers a recycling service where it collects unwanted furniture and household items to sell in its stores.

Butt allegedly conspired with his mother-in-law and friend to provide coordinated quotes for the tender exercise, with Butt’s firm winning the HK$140,000 recycling logistics contract.

According to ICAC, “Salvation Army believed the three quotes ultimately received were genuinely competitive ones and prepared separately from and independently of each other, thereby deceiving The Salvation Army into granting the service order to Ruming Logistics.”

Car park fraud

Separately, ICAC also last week charged two people for bribery and fraud over carpark space leasing.

In 2018, a tenant of Veristrong Industrial Centre enquired about car park rental.

Property agent Lam Wai-ping, 68, allegedly told the tenant he could enjoy “favour” in getting a parking space for a payment of $3,000.

And Gavin Quentin Mann, 64, then area superintendent for Veristrong’s property management company, allegedly falsely told the tenant he was in charge of all car park leasing and elicited a $36,000 payment from the tenant, pocketing the cash himself.

Lam was charged with one count of soliciting an advantage, while Mann was changed with one count of fraud.