Five charged in HK$10m technology voucher fraud scheme
Five people, including a tech service provider, were charged with conspiracy to defraud the government's Technology Voucher Programme using shell companies. The alleged fraud involved over HK$10 million in可疑 applications, with authorities blocking HK$94 million in payouts.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday charged five people, including a technology service provider and four shell company operators, with conspiracy to defraud the government's Technology Voucher Programme. The case was brought to Eastern Magistrates' Courts in the afternoon.
According to the charge sheet, the technology service provider allegedly conspired with the four co-defendants between October 2019 and January 2025 to deceive the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) and the Productivity Council. They falsely claimed that several companies were eligible for Technology Voucher funding and that they had engaged three companies to provide services and paid the service fees, thereby inducing the ITC and the Productivity Council to approve the applications and disburse subsidies. The amount involved exceeded HK$1.6 million.
The ICAC began investigating after suspecting corruption and fraud in Technology Voucher claims during inquiries into other cases. The ITC and the Productivity Council also noticed that some service providers had submitted repeated applications and reported the matter proactively.
Following the investigation, the ICAC found that several technology service providers were involved in about 470 suspicious applications, with subsidies exceeding HK$100 million. In coordination with the ITC and the Productivity Council, the ICAC successfully blocked nearly 90 per cent of the subsidies, amounting to HK$94 million, from being approved and disbursed.
The ICAC dismantled the criminal syndicate earlier this year, which was suspected of recruiting puppet applicants to set up shell companies to defraud government technology funding under the Technology Voucher Programme.