Former Airport Authority executive pleads guilty to accepting HK$3.3 million in bribes
Ricky Lee, 49, also admits to handling more than HK$5.6 million in illegal proceeds linked to construction of the third runway project
Ricky Lee Wing-fai, 49, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy for a public servant to accept an advantage and six of money laundering before a District Court judge on Thursday.
His wife Diana Chan Kok-tan, 46, who initially faced four counts of money laundering for allegedly dealing with Lee’s ill-gotten gains, was granted unconditional discharge after prosecutors decided not to submit any evidence in support of her conviction.
The airport’s HK$141.5 billion expansion project started in 2016 after facing controversy over its environmental impact.
It includes a new 3.8km (2.3 mile) runway that came into service in 2022, a second terminal building opposite the present one, as well as another concourse.
The government expected the 650 hectare (1,606 acre) project, seen as key to the development of Hong Kong and the south of mainland China, to increase airport capacity by 50 per cent.
The court heard Lee, a geotechnical engineering specialist, was responsible for overseeing the project’s reclamation work and construction of the foundation of the new concourse.
