Six individuals, including a then-director of Cyberport, have been charged by Hong Kong's ICAC over alleged fraud involving government technology funding.

On 12 October, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) charged six individuals, including a then-director of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (Cyberport) and an information technology company owner, over alleged bribery and fraud involving government technology funding under the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme (the "Digital Transformation Programme"). The case was mentioned at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts and adjourned to 4 January next year, with the defendants granted bail in the interim. So Nga-lai, 59, then Director of Entrepreneurship at Cyberport, who had full responsibility for the programme secretariat during the offence period from October 2023 to January 2026, including reviewing funding applications and disbursing grants, was charged with one count of a public servant accepting an advantage, contrary to section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Lam Yuen-lee, 39, sole proprietor of Find Solution Ai Limited (Find Solution), was charged with one count of offering an advantage to a public servant, contrary to section 4(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Lam Yuen-lee and the four other defendants were also jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to common law. The four are Lam Kin-ho, 35, Lam Yuen-lee's younger brother and company secretary of Find Solution; and three downstream sales promoters of Find Solution, namely Lee Yik-lun, Chan Hoi-chun and Tsang Wai-ping, aged between 31 and 52. The two corruption charges allege that So Nga-lai, then Director of Entrepreneurship at Cyberport, allegedly accepted multiple gifts from Lam Yuen-lee, proprietor of Find Solution, to remain favourably disposed towards Find Solution in respect of funding applications under the Digital Transformation Programme. The gifts included several round-trip tickets between Hong Kong and Thailand and Japan, as well as several designer handbags and a smartphone. The ICAC investigation found that So Nga-lai allegedly accepted bribes to discontinue investigating complaints made by programme applicants against Find Solution, and to expedite the processing of funding applications involving Find Solution. The other charge alleges that Lam Yuen-lee, Lam Kin-ho, Lee Yik-lun, Chan Hoi-chun and Tsang Wai-ping conspired to defraud Cyberport by falsely representing that a number of eligible small and medium enterprises had applied for funding under the Digital Transformation Programme, engaged Find Solution to provide services, and paid half of the service fees, thereby inducing Cyberport to approve the applications and pay the remaining half of the service fees to Find Solution as a grant. The ICAC investigation found that the applications involved numbered at least 400, involving grants totalling about HK$20 million. The ICAC has been working closely with government departments and public bodies to provide anti-corruption advice and guidelines on the administrative procedures of government funding schemes, so as to strengthen the integrity management and anti-corruption measures of the schemes. The ICAC will continue to provide assistance to the relevant organisations to further enhance their anti-corruption capabilities.