Anti-graft officers are investigating whether Customs officers are linked to a syndicate that allegedly pocketed up to US$2 million (HK$15.58 million) through a fake computer parts scam. HONG KONG (SCMP.com) - Officers arrested the 39-year-old owner of a manufacturing plant in Lai Chi Kok, two brothers from a trading and shipping firm, the female proprietor of another shipping company and a male employee of a freight forwarding firm when they raided five locations on Thursday.
They seized about 10,000 counterfeit central processing units (CPUs) and manufacturing equipment including a laser printer, worth several million dollars.
The ICAC probe was launched after a tip-off several weeks ago incriminating Customs officers and members of shipping firms, principal investigator Ricky Chu Man-kin said. No law enforcement agents have yet been arrested. The factory was suspected to have been operating for more than three months but Customs officers had not inspected it.
ICAC chief investigator Stephen Sayell said investigations into every aspect of the case including Customs were continuing. But the deputy head of Customs' Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, Ben Leung Lun-cheung, said: "No officers from our department are under investigation in connection with the case. The ICAC did not suspect any Customs officer linked with it. We will work closely with ICAC and provide them with any assistance if necessary."
The syndicate used hi-tech equipment to modify genuine chips of lower speed into higher megahertz ratings. The CPUs were then shipped from Hong Kong with a mix of genuine and fake parts.
"This is the first laboratory of this type that has been discovered anywhere in the world," Mr Sayell said. He believed the syndicate had shipped about 30,000 counterfeit CPUs in the past three months.
Technicians from US-based Intel and AMD suppliers will visit Hong Kong to help ICAC officers.
The factory was operated in the name of a computer firm, which formerly ran a retail outlet in Wan Chai.
