The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said it had uncovered two organised syndicates that allegedly used bribery and falsified documents to defraud the government out of technology subsidies.

The amount exceeded HK$150 million, leading to the arrests of 33 people earlier this month.

"In these operations, the ICAC neutralised two corruption syndicates and arrested 33 individuals," said Principal Investigator Matthew Chang.

"There are 24 men and nine women aged between 27 and 66, including their masterminds and backbone members, [who were arrested] on suspicion of defrauding government technology subsidies amounting to HK$150 million under the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme and the Technology Voucher Programme by bribery."

Chang said the ICAC worked with the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) as well as Cyberport to successfully block HK$120 million of the HK$150 million from being released.

In the case involving the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme under Cyberport, Chang said one syndicate of nine allegedly bribed a former Cyberport staff member, responsible for handling funding applications, by offering luxury goods and travel benefits in exchange for expedited approvals.

The group of six men and three women used marketing agents to recruit small business owners who were often unaware of the scams and exaggerated project costs to inflate subsides.

The scheme sought up to HK$50 million before being detected.

In another case, 24 people – 18 men and six women – were arrested for conspiring to defraud the Technology Voucher Programme under the ITC.

The suspects allegedly created shell companies and paid bribes to a bank manager, an accountant and an insurance agent to fabricate bank accounts, audit reports, and MPF records to make bogus funding applications totalling about HK$100 million.

Cyberport's Chief Operating Officer Howard Cheng said the corporation had immediately reviewed the applications handled by the involved former staff member and launched additional measures, including random audits and surprise site inspections.

ITC's senior manager Paul Shen said the secretariat of the tech voucher had strengthened scrutiny after discovering irregular activities.

Chang said the ICAC would release an anti-corruption guide for the public and agencies to enhance monitoring and governance to prevent similar cases in the future.

He also reminded business owners not to be deceived by intermediaries claiming to offer easy government funding.