HONG KONG - Allegations that staff at a Wellcome store in Hong Kong stockpiled tinned baby milk formula for resale on the mainland will be investigated by The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
That's according to Nelson Wong Sing-chi, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, who said that he learned of the investigation from Timothy Tong, the ICAC commissioner, on Thursday.
A spokesman for Wellcome said on Thursday that three of its employees at the store in the Sheung Shui district were also involved in an earlier incident of milk hoarding.
The statement came after Wong met officials from the supermarket.
The employees are accused of hoarding and selling the baby milk formula to "couriers", who make a substantial profit by reselling the powder on the mainland at a higher price.
A former cashier of the supermarket chain claimed the couriers offered workers between HK$50 ($6) and HK$80 on top of the recommended price for each tin of the powder, Wong said.
Wong said that Wellcome is not the only supermarket under investigation, adding that some stores in Taikoo Shing, Sha Tin, Tseung Kwan O and the North Territories have also been accused of the practice
The incident underlines a recurring complaint from Hong Kong parents that the hoarding means that there is a shortage of the formula in the city and that prices are skyrocketing as a result.
"Why are mainlanders always lucky enough to buy the last tin while Hong Kong residents are always told there's not enough supply? I don't believe it is the truth," said a Hong Kong resident surnamed Sze who lives in Sheung Shui, close to the border.
Sze, who has a six-month-old child, told China Daily that locating stores with a reasonable supply of the formula is becoming increasingly difficult.
"If the buyer is willing to pay us more money for each tin of milk powder, of course we would love to sell as much as we can, as long as the local supply can be assured," said Pang Hok-ming, who runs a pharmacy at Sheung Shui.
Pang said that many customers from the mainland are believed to be milk powder traffickers, and that he had previously sold 100 tins to traffickers in a single transaction when he had sufficient supplies. "After all, we are running a business," he said.
In the North District of the New Territories - which are located close to the border and are most affected by the soaring demand for the powder - some pharmacies were reported to have sold their entire stock of milk powder, as many as 250 tins, within 10 minutes of restocking their shelves.
"We set a purchasing limit of two tins for each customer and prohibited shops from selling the powder to suspected couriers, to ensure the local supply," said Lau Oi-kwok, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy Limited, whose membership includes most of the city's pharmacies.
Lau added that major local milk powder suppliers had already doubled supplies since Spring Festival to meet the booming demand.
