Couple charged by ICAC admit using false information to conceal conflicts of interest in St. John first aid courses
2022-12-16
A couple, charged by the ICAC, today (December 16) admitted at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts that they had respectively violated the anti-bribery law by using documents containing false information to conceal the husband’s conflicts of interest, causing Hong Kong St. John Ambulance (St. John) to approve him to teach first aid courses for an association of which he was the vice-chairperson; and attempted fraud over honorariums for trainers of the courses.
Sunny Lai Shun-hing, 65, pleaded guilty to six counts of agent using a document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to Section 9(3) the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. His wife Chow Ho-yuet, 66, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted fraud, contrary to Section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.
Magistrate Miss Lau Suk-han adjourned the case to December 30 for mitigation and sentence, pending the defendants’ background reports. The duo were remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that at the material time, Lai and Chow were both part-time trainers of St. John. Upon receipt of applications from external organisations, St. John would arrange its trainers to conduct first aid courses at venues designated by the applicant organisations. Trainers were entitled to an honorarium of $80 per training hour. Trainers were required to submit course attendance records to St. John. An applicant organisation could request designated trainers for the courses. However, to avoid conflicts of interest, St. John would not approve the person-in-charge of an applicant organisation to conduct training.
In April 2021, St. John received seven application forms submitted by World Emergency Federation (WEF) requesting St. John to conduct seven first aid courses at a commercial building in Mong Kok in April and May, 2021. WEF stated in the applications that Lai and Chow were its preferred trainers. St. John subsequently approved the applications.
In May 2021, St. John received course attendance records of the aforesaid seven applications which had been signed by Lai and Chow, purporting that all trainees had attended the courses at the said venues and on the dates as stated in the application forms.
The court heard that no first aid course had ever been conducted at the said venues, and the seven training courses had not taken place on those dates. Moreover, the contact person of the course applicant had never applied to St. John for any first aid course.
ICAC inquiries revealed that at the material time, Lai was the vice-chairperson of WEF. He prepared and submitted the seven application forms containing false information to conceal his conflicts of interest from St. John. He knew that St. John would not approve the applications if they found out his role in WEF. Upon the request of Lai, Chow signed on the course attendance records to deceive honorariums from St. John even she was not the trainer of the courses.
The courses concerned involved honorariums for trainers totalling about $12,000. St. John did not pay the honorariums after the matter had come to its knowledge. Other trainers were assigned to conduct first aid training for the courses, and qualifications of the course members were not affected.
St. John had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officers Matthew Tong and Cherilyn Chan.
Sunny Lai Shun-hing, 65, pleaded guilty to six counts of agent using a document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to Section 9(3) the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. His wife Chow Ho-yuet, 66, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted fraud, contrary to Section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.
Magistrate Miss Lau Suk-han adjourned the case to December 30 for mitigation and sentence, pending the defendants’ background reports. The duo were remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that at the material time, Lai and Chow were both part-time trainers of St. John. Upon receipt of applications from external organisations, St. John would arrange its trainers to conduct first aid courses at venues designated by the applicant organisations. Trainers were entitled to an honorarium of $80 per training hour. Trainers were required to submit course attendance records to St. John. An applicant organisation could request designated trainers for the courses. However, to avoid conflicts of interest, St. John would not approve the person-in-charge of an applicant organisation to conduct training.
In April 2021, St. John received seven application forms submitted by World Emergency Federation (WEF) requesting St. John to conduct seven first aid courses at a commercial building in Mong Kok in April and May, 2021. WEF stated in the applications that Lai and Chow were its preferred trainers. St. John subsequently approved the applications.
In May 2021, St. John received course attendance records of the aforesaid seven applications which had been signed by Lai and Chow, purporting that all trainees had attended the courses at the said venues and on the dates as stated in the application forms.
The court heard that no first aid course had ever been conducted at the said venues, and the seven training courses had not taken place on those dates. Moreover, the contact person of the course applicant had never applied to St. John for any first aid course.
ICAC inquiries revealed that at the material time, Lai was the vice-chairperson of WEF. He prepared and submitted the seven application forms containing false information to conceal his conflicts of interest from St. John. He knew that St. John would not approve the applications if they found out his role in WEF. Upon the request of Lai, Chow signed on the course attendance records to deceive honorariums from St. John even she was not the trainer of the courses.
The courses concerned involved honorariums for trainers totalling about $12,000. St. John did not pay the honorariums after the matter had come to its knowledge. Other trainers were assigned to conduct first aid training for the courses, and qualifications of the course members were not affected.
St. John had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officers Matthew Tong and Cherilyn Chan.