Key facts
- Xin Ding Xin Trade and director Lu Zicong pleaded guilty to fraud over a HK$52.9 million government water contract.
- The company held a three-year contract to supply XinLe-brand bottled water to government offices on Hong Kong Island and the outlying islands.
- Hong Kong Chinese-language reports said Lu admitted seven charges and the company four across two cases.
- Judge Lin Kam Hung adjourned sentencing to December 30, 2026, and Lu was remanded in custody.
Xin Ding Xin Trade, a mainland Chinese company, and its director Lu Zicong pleaded guilty in Hong Kong's District Court on November 5, 2026 to fraud over a HK$52.9 million (US$6.78 million) contract to supply drinking water to civil servants, according to the primary report.
The company held a three-year contract to provide XinLe-brand bottled water to government offices on Hong Kong Island and the outlying islands. The procurement came to light in August 2025 after civil servants raised concerns about the quality of the products supplied.
Hong Kong Chinese-language reports of the same hearing said Lu, 62, admitted seven charges across two cases and the company admitted four. The charges included fraud, attempted fraud, supplying goods with a false trade description, possessing such goods for sale, operating a food import business without registration and selling pre-packaged food without proper labeling. Lu also admitted one count of attempted fraud over a separate bid to supply the Department of Health with rapid virus test kits.
According to those reports, the Government Logistics Department invited tenders on March 21, 2025, and Lu submitted an electronic bid on May 1, 2025 naming Lebaishi (Guangdong) Drinking Water as the manufacturer. Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre later confirmed it had not issued three water-sample test reports submitted under Xin Ding Xin's name. Judge Lin Kam Hung adjourned sentencing to December 30, 2026, and Lu was remanded in custody.