Estate agent charged by ICAC for bribe solicitation over subordinate’s role in $100m property transaction

An estate agent was charged by the ICAC yesterday (April 8) for allegedly soliciting a bribe of over $63,000 from a subordinate for making a false representation regarding the latter’s role in procuring the sale and purchase transaction of a property valued at over $100 million.

Shao Li-ya, 47, branch manager of Midland Realty International Limited (Midland Realty), faces one count of soliciting an advantage as an agent, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance; and one count of fraud, contrary to section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance.

The defendant was released on bail, pending her appearance at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (April 10) for plea.

At the material time, the defendant was the branch manager at a Midland Realty branch in Tsim Sha Tsui. According to Midland Realty’s policy, a branch manager was eligible to receive an overriding commission based on the team’s turnover, whereas only a self-earned commission, without any overriding commission, would be granted for a transaction secured solely by a branch manager.

The first charge alleges that in July 2023, the defendant solicited a bribe of over $63,000 from a subordinate estate agent for representing to Midland Realty that the subordinate was one of the handling agents in the sale and purchase transaction of a house in Sha Tin.

The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that by falsely claiming that she and her subordinate had participated in procuring the property transaction valued at over $100 million, the defendant received an overriding commission and a sales commission totalling over $1.3 million while her subordinate received a sales commission of over $130,000.

The defendant further faces a fraud charge relating to the attendance of her daughter, who was a sales trainee under her supervision. It is alleged that between August and November 2023, the defendant and her daughter made false representations to Midland Realty regarding the daughter’s attendance records, and with intent to defraud, induced Midland Realty to release salary payments totalling over $5,100 to the daughter.

While the defendant falsely represented to Midland Realty that her daughter was on duty for over 50 days between August and early October 2023, ICAC enquiries revealed that the daughter was out of Hong Kong for 19 days during that period.

Midland Realty rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.