Man admits making false report against USD officer
2000-2-9
An unemployed man, charged by the ICAC, pleaded guilty at Western Court today (Wednesday) for fabricating a corruption allegation against an officer of the then Urban Services Department (USD) who issued him a summons for littering.
Magistrate Ms Adriana Noelle Ching adjourned the case until February 22, 2000 for sentence, and remanded the defendant in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
Chan Wing-keung, 31, changed to a guilty plea after a four-day trial when the magistrate ruled admissible as evidence the video interview with him under caution.
Chan admitted one count of making a false report to the ICAC on November 5, 1998 against Assistant Hawker Control Officer Sin Suk-chun, contrary to Section 13B(a) of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance.
The report alleged Sin of accepting bribes from an illegal hawker for not taking action against the hawker on the same day.
The court heard that on November 5, 1998, Sin approached Chan after having seen him throwing a cigarette bud onto the road from a private car parked outside the Centre Street market complex.
Chan asked for leniency but turned hostile when Sin issued him a summons.
Later on the same day, Chan called the ICAC hotline using the name of his former schoolmate, alleging that he had seen USD staff, including Sin, accepting money from illegal hawkers outside the market complex as a reward for their release from arrests for hawking offences.
Chan gave the ICAC a fake identity card number, a fake address and the old telephone number of his former schoolmate.
Acting on the complaint, ICAC officers conducted a detailed investigation. Enquiries revealed that a false complaint had been made against Sin by Chan.
Chan was arrested by the ICAC in July last year.
An ICAC spokesman said: “ It is a serious offence to make false complaints against innocent people and to abuse ICAC's resources.
"A person will be prosecuted if he is found to have knowingly given false information or made a false accusation to the ICAC. If convicted, he is liable to a fine of $20,000 and to an imprisonment of one year. ”
Over the past two years, 10 persons, including Chan, were prosecuted for making false reports to the ICAC. Seven of them were convicted or pleaded guilty, with two acquitted and the remaining one pending trial.
The prosecution was today represented by a court prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Thomas Lam Yiu.
Magistrate Ms Adriana Noelle Ching adjourned the case until February 22, 2000 for sentence, and remanded the defendant in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
Chan Wing-keung, 31, changed to a guilty plea after a four-day trial when the magistrate ruled admissible as evidence the video interview with him under caution.
Chan admitted one count of making a false report to the ICAC on November 5, 1998 against Assistant Hawker Control Officer Sin Suk-chun, contrary to Section 13B(a) of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance.
The report alleged Sin of accepting bribes from an illegal hawker for not taking action against the hawker on the same day.
The court heard that on November 5, 1998, Sin approached Chan after having seen him throwing a cigarette bud onto the road from a private car parked outside the Centre Street market complex.
Chan asked for leniency but turned hostile when Sin issued him a summons.
Later on the same day, Chan called the ICAC hotline using the name of his former schoolmate, alleging that he had seen USD staff, including Sin, accepting money from illegal hawkers outside the market complex as a reward for their release from arrests for hawking offences.
Chan gave the ICAC a fake identity card number, a fake address and the old telephone number of his former schoolmate.
Acting on the complaint, ICAC officers conducted a detailed investigation. Enquiries revealed that a false complaint had been made against Sin by Chan.
Chan was arrested by the ICAC in July last year.
An ICAC spokesman said: “ It is a serious offence to make false complaints against innocent people and to abuse ICAC's resources.
"A person will be prosecuted if he is found to have knowingly given false information or made a false accusation to the ICAC. If convicted, he is liable to a fine of $20,000 and to an imprisonment of one year. ”
Over the past two years, 10 persons, including Chan, were prosecuted for making false reports to the ICAC. Seven of them were convicted or pleaded guilty, with two acquitted and the remaining one pending trial.
The prosecution was today represented by a court prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Thomas Lam Yiu.