The Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday charged nine former employees of seven financial institutions for allegedly conducting unauthorized checks on customers' data for helping a syndicate in relation to its debt collecting business.

The nine defendants were all employees from five major banks and other banking institutions, including Citibank (Hong Kong) Limited, Hang Seng Bank Limited, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Citic Ka Wah Bank Limited, DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, AIG Credit Card Company (Hong Kong) Limited and Wing Hang Credit Limited (WHCL).

They will appear in Kowloon City Magistracy at 9:30 am Tuesday in eight separate cases.

The cases raised concerns over the safety of personal data collected by banks in the city.

The defendants were arrested by the ICAC during a corruption inquiry last year. Subsequent inquiries revealed the alleged conspiracy offenses.

The alleged offenses in the above cases took place between October 2001 and August 2005, according to the ICAC.

Investigation by the ICAC revealed that the defendants had allegedly obtained confidential information of account holders to facilitate a syndicate's debt collecting business.

The defendants have been released on ICAC bail, pending their court appearances on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua