Serving District Council member faces vote-planting charges
2001-4-9
An incumbent District Councillor was today (Monday) charged by the ICAC with vote-planting offences in connection with the 1999 Southern District Council Election.
Lee Pui-ying, now 60, a candidate who contested in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency, was elected to the Southern District Council on November 28, 1999.
She will appear at 9:30 am in Western Court tomorrow on two counts of conspiracy to defraud the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) and two counts of inciting electors to pervert the course of public justice.
Two of the charges alleged that Lee had conspired with Andrew Ng Cheong-fai and Choy Chi-king to defraud the REO by dishonestly causing Ng and Choy to be registered as electors in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency for the 1999 Southern District Council Election with false statements about their principal addresses.
It was alleged that Ng and Choy were caused to declare in their voter registration forms that an address in Stanley Main Street was their only or principal residences.
The remaining two charges alleged Lee of unlawfully inciting Ng and Choy to give false statements to any investigating authority that they had occasionally resided at the address concerned in order to look after a woman who was a relative of Lee.
The woman, whom Ng and Choy were not acquainted with, died in 1995.
The alleged vote planting offences took place between January 1 and December 31, 1999.
Lee is currently on ICAC bail, pending her court appearance tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the ICAC earlier charged Ng, 50, and Choy, 29, respectively a senior conveyancing clerk and a secretary of a solicitors' firm, with two voting offences each.
Choy had pleaded guilty, while Ng admitted the offences today. They were each sentenced to two months' imprisonment at Western Court.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Paul Kelly cited a sentencing guideline set by the Court of Appeal relating to a vote-planting case in the 1994 District Board Election.
Delivering judgement in November 1997, the Appeal Court judge Mr Justice Patrick Chan said immediate custodial sentences must be imposed on candidates, voters and election helpers convicted of vote planting or related offences to ensure that elections wer e fair and honest.
The court heard that in January 1999, Lee asked Ng to register as voters in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency.
Ng was aware that Lee was going to stand as a candidate in the District Council Election and that the registration was to enable him to vote for Lee in the constituency.
At the suggestion of Lee, Ng agreed to make a false statement to the REO by stating in his voter registration form that he was residing at an address in Stanley.
Ng also appended his signature on the form to falsely declare that the address concerned was his principal address before it was handed over to Lee for submission to the REO.
On November 28, 1999, Ng went to the designated polling station and voted for Lee.
The court heard that Choy also committed similar offences.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Winnie Ho, assisted by ICAC officers Raymond Yuen and Samuel Lung.
Lee Pui-ying, now 60, a candidate who contested in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency, was elected to the Southern District Council on November 28, 1999.
She will appear at 9:30 am in Western Court tomorrow on two counts of conspiracy to defraud the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) and two counts of inciting electors to pervert the course of public justice.
Two of the charges alleged that Lee had conspired with Andrew Ng Cheong-fai and Choy Chi-king to defraud the REO by dishonestly causing Ng and Choy to be registered as electors in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency for the 1999 Southern District Council Election with false statements about their principal addresses.
It was alleged that Ng and Choy were caused to declare in their voter registration forms that an address in Stanley Main Street was their only or principal residences.
The remaining two charges alleged Lee of unlawfully inciting Ng and Choy to give false statements to any investigating authority that they had occasionally resided at the address concerned in order to look after a woman who was a relative of Lee.
The woman, whom Ng and Choy were not acquainted with, died in 1995.
The alleged vote planting offences took place between January 1 and December 31, 1999.
Lee is currently on ICAC bail, pending her court appearance tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the ICAC earlier charged Ng, 50, and Choy, 29, respectively a senior conveyancing clerk and a secretary of a solicitors' firm, with two voting offences each.
Choy had pleaded guilty, while Ng admitted the offences today. They were each sentenced to two months' imprisonment at Western Court.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Paul Kelly cited a sentencing guideline set by the Court of Appeal relating to a vote-planting case in the 1994 District Board Election.
Delivering judgement in November 1997, the Appeal Court judge Mr Justice Patrick Chan said immediate custodial sentences must be imposed on candidates, voters and election helpers convicted of vote planting or related offences to ensure that elections wer e fair and honest.
The court heard that in January 1999, Lee asked Ng to register as voters in the Stanley and Shek O Constituency.
Ng was aware that Lee was going to stand as a candidate in the District Council Election and that the registration was to enable him to vote for Lee in the constituency.
At the suggestion of Lee, Ng agreed to make a false statement to the REO by stating in his voter registration form that he was residing at an address in Stanley.
Ng also appended his signature on the form to falsely declare that the address concerned was his principal address before it was handed over to Lee for submission to the REO.
On November 28, 1999, Ng went to the designated polling station and voted for Lee.
The court heard that Choy also committed similar offences.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Winnie Ho, assisted by ICAC officers Raymond Yuen and Samuel Lung.