Six months' jail for writer cheating Arts Development Council grants
2000-4-7
A writer was sentenced to six months' imprisonment at Eastern Court today (Friday) for cheating grants from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) over the production cost of a literary journal published with subsidies from the HKADC.
Woo Chih-wai, 57, a writer charged by the ICAC, was earlier found guilty on one count of conspiring with printer Wong Kai to defraud the HKADC between January 1995 and June 1997.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Lambert Lee said Woo had committed a serious offence and an immediate custodial sentence was necessary.
The magistrate also noted that the defendant had shown no remorse.
Wong Kai earlier pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
The court heard that HKADC was a government-funded statutory organisation which subsidised local non-profit making groups for promoting arts activities, including the publication of journals and magazines.
HKADC's Literary Arts Committee (LAC) was responsible for examining and approving applications for grants for the purpose of producing literary publications.
Woo, the secretary of Hong Kong (English) Pen Centre and chief editor of a literary journal known as Hong Kong Literature , approached Wong in January 1995 for quotations for producing the journal to apply for grants from LAC.
The Pen Centre subsequently received $569,000 in total as grants for the project.
The court was told that the total printing and production costs incurred was only $178,800. Woo had enabled the Pen Centre to obtain a higher amount of subsidies by overstating the number of copies of the journal printed and inflating the production cost .
The prosecution was today represented by Lawrence Poots on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Steve Woo.
Woo Chih-wai, 57, a writer charged by the ICAC, was earlier found guilty on one count of conspiring with printer Wong Kai to defraud the HKADC between January 1995 and June 1997.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Lambert Lee said Woo had committed a serious offence and an immediate custodial sentence was necessary.
The magistrate also noted that the defendant had shown no remorse.
Wong Kai earlier pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy charge and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
The court heard that HKADC was a government-funded statutory organisation which subsidised local non-profit making groups for promoting arts activities, including the publication of journals and magazines.
HKADC's Literary Arts Committee (LAC) was responsible for examining and approving applications for grants for the purpose of producing literary publications.
Woo, the secretary of Hong Kong (English) Pen Centre and chief editor of a literary journal known as Hong Kong Literature , approached Wong in January 1995 for quotations for producing the journal to apply for grants from LAC.
The Pen Centre subsequently received $569,000 in total as grants for the project.
The court was told that the total printing and production costs incurred was only $178,800. Woo had enabled the Pen Centre to obtain a higher amount of subsidies by overstating the number of copies of the journal printed and inflating the production cost .
The prosecution was today represented by Lawrence Poots on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Steve Woo.