The ICAC has charged three more parents and a merchant on suspicion of offering bribes totalling HK$340,000 to a former staff at an English Schools Foundation kindergarten in order to secure school places.

They each face one count of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, and will appear at the Shatin Court on Wednesday.

In a statement, the anti-graft watchdog said each parent allegedly offered HK$20,000 or HK$100,000 in bribes to the then-administrator of ESF International Kindergarten (Wu Kai Sha), Fatima Rumjahn, for assisting in the admission of their children to its K1 classes.

The merchant, meanwhile, was believed to have offered HK$200,000 for a placement of his business partner's daughter.

The alleged offences took place between 2018 and 2021.

Rumjahn was charged with bribery in June last year – along with ten other parents – who allegedly offered her HK$900,000 in bribes.