Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has charged six people, including a former senior manager at Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (Cyberport), over alleged bribery and fraud involving a government subsidy scheme for small businesses. According to the ICAC's press release, the ICAC charged the six on the morning of 12 October 2026, and the case was mentioned at the Eastern Magistrates' Court that afternoon.
The ICAC says the case grew out of Operation Thunderclap, carried out earlier this year, which it says broke up a syndicate suspected of offering and accepting bribes and of defrauding the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme (DTSPP). It says at least 400 subsidy applications, worth about HK$20 million in total, were involved. No plea was entered. The court adjourned the case to 4 January 2027 for mention and granted the defendants bail.
The scheme
The DTSPP paid small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt ready-made digital tools from registered service providers, in areas such as digital payments, online sales promotion and customer management. Under the scheme, SMEs paid half the cost of the solution, and the subsidy covered the other half, up to HK$50,000 per business.
Cyberport ran the programme's secretariat. According to the ICAC, during the alleged offences (October 2023 to January 2026), its then Head of Entrepreneurship managed all secretariat matters for the DTSPP, including reviewing subsidy applications and disbursing funds. One registered service provider was Find Solution Ai Limited (Find Solution), which used downline vendors to sell its digital solutions to SMEs.
Who has been charged
- Alice So Nga-lai, 59, then Head of Entrepreneurship at Cyberport: one count of public servant accepting advantages, under section 4(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).
- Viola Lam Yuen-lee, 39, described by the ICAC as the sole proprietor of Find Solution: one count of offering advantages to a public servant, under section 4(1)(a) of the POBO, and one count of conspiracy to defraud.
- Paul Lam Kin-ho, 35, Find Solution's company secretary and Viola Lam's younger brother: one count of conspiracy to defraud.
- Daniel Lee, Chan Hoi-tsun and Tsang Wai-ping, three downline vendors for Find Solution, aged between 31 and 52: one count each of conspiracy to defraud.
Conspiracy to defraud is a common-law offence. All of the charges are allegations that have not been contested in court.
The bribery allegations
The two bribery charges allege that So accepted gifts from Viola Lam in return for staying favourably disposed towards Find Solution on DTSPP subsidy applications. The ICAC lists the gifts as several round-trip flights between Hong Kong and Thailand and Japan, several branded handbags and a smartphone.
According to the ICAC, its investigation found that So allegedly took the bribes to cut short investigations into complaints DTSPP applicants made against Find Solution and to speed up the release of subsidies on applications involving the company.
The fraud allegation
The conspiracy charge against Viola Lam, Paul Lam, Lee, Chan and Tsang alleges they deceived Cyberport by claiming eligible SMEs had applied for DTSPP subsidies, hired Find Solution, and paid their half of the service fee. In the ICAC's case, that led Cyberport to approve the applications and pay Find Solution the remaining half as a subsidy. The ICAC says the case involves at least 400 applications and about HK$20 million in subsidies.
The ICAC says Cyberport gave full assistance during the investigation.
What the ICAC is doing next
Beyond the prosecution, the ICAC says it has been advising government departments and public bodies on how to run funding schemes with stronger integrity and corruption prevention controls. It plans to publish a Corruption Prevention Guide on Funding Schemes on Innovation and Technology, to help grant-giving bodies monitor their schemes more closely, and to run anti-corruption training for government departments and public-sector grantors.
Why it matters
Matched-funding schemes like the DTSPP depend on the administrator trusting two things it often cannot see directly: that the business really applied, and that it really paid its share. The allegations in this case go to both, and to the person reviewing the applications. For agencies and public bodies running grant programmes, the case reminds them to check co-payments independently, separate the people who handle complaints about a provider from those who approve its claims, and watch for a single provider or sales network accounting for an unusually large share of applications.
For service providers on government schemes, it also reminds us that downline sales agents can expose the provider itself. Hong Kong's regulators have been active on financial crime more broadly this year, from the HKMA's report backing wider use of AI by banks against financial crime to the SFC's 10-year ban on a former Keptain officer.
The case returns to the Eastern Magistrates' Courts on 4 January 2027.
