A couple involved in the Hong Kong government’s water scandal have been arrested again for breaching the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, days after being charged with fraud over the bottle water procurement.
The Customs and Excise Department on Wednesday said it arrested a company director, 61, and a 57-year-old female shareholder earlier in the day and on Tuesday, regarding a local supplier who allegedly provided the Government Logistics Department with office drinking water bearing a false trade description.
Meanwhile, a testing centre, where a Hong Kong lawmaker serves as a director, has taken legal action against a company suspected of procurement fraud for falsely claiming that the body had issued safety certificates for 1.88 million bottles of water supplied to government offices.
The Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre clarified on Wednesday that it had not provided any services to Xin Ding Xin Trade, the water supplier suspected of defrauding the government in the HK$52.9 million (US$6.8 million) contract.
“The centre is following up on this incident with the relevant government departments and has taken legal action to pursue legal liabilities,” it said.
Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, a centre director and member of the Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body, previously denied any involvement with tests conducted on “XinLe” bottled water provided by Xin Ding Xin.
The water procurement controversy came to light on Saturday last week when the Government Logistics Department announced it had “partially terminated” a contract with the company to supply bottled water to civil servant offices on Hong Kong Island and some outlying islands for three years.
