Mainland tourists desperate to cross the border without pandemic paperwork for Chinese New Year in 2023 were offered seats for a $1000 bribe by a Hong Kong Zhuhai-Macao-Bridge shuttle bus employee

A bus worker has been jailed after offering shuttle bus seats to mainland tourists for bribes without proper paperwork during pandemic restrictions.

In January 2023, Ng Kwong-lung, 36, was employed as a casual worker for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Shuttle Bus Company (HZMBus), helping passengers complete check-in procedures.

Under mainland anti-pandemic measures in force at the time, the bus was only allowed to carry a specific number of passengers daily from Hong Kong to Zhuhai, and only passengers with tickets booked through an online real-name reservation system were allowed to board the bus.

According to prosecutors, two mainland tourists approached Ng on the evening of 20 January, the day before Chinese New Year’s Eve. Neither had managed to secure tickets for travel that day or the following day: ICAC enquiries revealed that Ng then solicited a bribe of $1,000 from the duo to help them get on board.

One of the two offered Ng RMB500 (HK$550): Ng accepted the payment and allowed the passenger to board the bus. The other tourist refused to pay Ng’s asking price. A complaint was made to the bus company which then rendered full assistance to the ICAC.

On 19 August, Ng pled guilty of two counts under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

In jailing Ng for 10 weeks, Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei noted that the defendant had committed a serious offence. The case involved mainland tourists and such behaviour had damaged Hong Kong’s international reputation, she said.

HZMBus made headlines earlier this month when investigations revealed lax handling of the firm’s security passes, meaning wanted criminals and unauthorised staff could slip in and out of Hong Kong undetected.

Contractors at the “restricted area” bridging the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao use an elaborate system of discarded or outdated passes and messaging codewords to move dozens of people invisibly around the border zones every day, according to a whistleblower who worked at the border.