Two ex-KCRC staff jailed for embezzling Octopus Card revenues
2000-12-7
Two former station officers of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) received jail sentences at Eastern Court today (Thursday) for embezzling about $84,000 generated from add-value transactions for Octopus Smart Cards (Octopus Cards) and the sale of railway tickets.
Choy Wai-man, 36, and Chung Man-yeuk, 39, charged by the ICAC, today pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and conspiracy to steal. They were respectively jailed for nine months and four months.
Magistrate Mr Ian Candy said immediate custodial sentences were imposed on the defendants since the offences committed by them were serious and constituted a breach of trust.
The judge added that he had taken into account the two defendants' clear records and guilty pleas.
Two other former KCRC station officers - Wong Kai-hing, 37, Au Hing-leung, 36 - were also charged with eight offences of theft and false accounting in this case.
Wong and Au pleaded not guilty to the charges. Magistrate Mr Candy adjourned the case until December 28 this year for a pre-trial review.
The case originated from a referral from the KCRC management which suspected that corruption might be involved in facilitating the embezzlement. ICAC enquiries revealed the offences.
The court heard that when the offences were committed, Choy and Chung were station officers attached to the Kowloon Tong Station.
They were responsible for operating add-value transactions for passengers' Octopus cards in the ticket office.
Between December 1, 1998 and May 10 this year, they had stolen cash totalling $77,950 from Creative Star Limited (CSL) while processing add-value transactions.
The revenues from add-value transactions were property of CSL.
They had also conspired with other staff members to retrieve void KCRC train tickets from ticket vending machines and resold them to passengers, pocketing a total of about $6,000.
Chung had also stolen 35 Mass Transit Railway stored value tickets from KCRC.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Patrick Kwok.
Choy Wai-man, 36, and Chung Man-yeuk, 39, charged by the ICAC, today pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and conspiracy to steal. They were respectively jailed for nine months and four months.
Magistrate Mr Ian Candy said immediate custodial sentences were imposed on the defendants since the offences committed by them were serious and constituted a breach of trust.
The judge added that he had taken into account the two defendants' clear records and guilty pleas.
Two other former KCRC station officers - Wong Kai-hing, 37, Au Hing-leung, 36 - were also charged with eight offences of theft and false accounting in this case.
Wong and Au pleaded not guilty to the charges. Magistrate Mr Candy adjourned the case until December 28 this year for a pre-trial review.
The case originated from a referral from the KCRC management which suspected that corruption might be involved in facilitating the embezzlement. ICAC enquiries revealed the offences.
The court heard that when the offences were committed, Choy and Chung were station officers attached to the Kowloon Tong Station.
They were responsible for operating add-value transactions for passengers' Octopus cards in the ticket office.
Between December 1, 1998 and May 10 this year, they had stolen cash totalling $77,950 from Creative Star Limited (CSL) while processing add-value transactions.
The revenues from add-value transactions were property of CSL.
They had also conspired with other staff members to retrieve void KCRC train tickets from ticket vending machines and resold them to passengers, pocketing a total of about $6,000.
Chung had also stolen 35 Mass Transit Railway stored value tickets from KCRC.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Patrick Kwok.