Defendants allegedly fabricated attendance records to make employer release wages
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has charged four individuals, including a former senior supervisor of PARKnSHOP (HK) Limited, for allegedly conspiring to defraud the supermarket chain of more than $3.2 million in wages through "ghost workers."
The defendants are Lau Kin-pong, 42, the former senior supervisor of PARKnSHOP; Tai Kin-man, 41, a former assistant manager at Earnward Warehouse Limited; and two casual workers, Wong Wai-fung, 25, and Wong Pak-kan, 26, according to the ICAC.
All four face one count of conspiracy to defraud under Common Law, with their scheme deceiving PARKnSHOP into releasing more than $3.2 million in wages for 13 non-existent employees.
According to the ICAC, the alleged fraud occurred between June 2019 and April 2021 at PARKnSHOP's product distribution centre in Fo Tan, responsible for sorting and packaging online orders.
The supermarket hired Logistics Network Management Limited to provide casual workers for this centre, while Earnward Warehouse managed Logistics Network's operations.
Lau Kin-pong was tasked with handling administrative duties at the distribution centre, while Tai Kin-man was responsible for verifying the attendance of casual workers.
The casual workers, Wong Wai-fung and Wong Pak-kan, were employed by Logistics Network and involved in recruiting and overseeing other workers at the distribution centre, who were required to clock in and out using timecards and sign daily attendance sheets to validate their working hours.
The ICAC investigation, initiated by a corruption complaint, uncovered that Lau, Tai, Wong Wai-fung, and Wong Pak-kan conspired with two other unidentified individuals to falsely represent to PARKnSHOP that 13 casual workers had logged the hours indicated on their attendance records.
"The defendants allegedly rented an office near the distribution centre and purchased a clocking machine of the same model used in the distribution centre," ICAC said in a media release.
"They allegedly fabricated the attendance records of the 13 'ghost workers' to deceive the distribution centre of wages and shared the fraudulent gains."
These 13 ghost workers had not worked at the centre at the time, and had not received any wages, according to ICAC. Their signatures on the daily attendance sheets were also forged, and they did not sign on any wage acknowledgements.
The four defendants were released on ICAC bail and are scheduled to appear in the Shatin Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, where the prosecution plans to apply for the case to be transferred to the District Court.
PARKnSHOP has provided full assistance to the commission during the investigation.
