Duo in court over public housing unit fraud scam
2013-8-15
An unemployed man and a proprietor of a decoration company appeared in the Kowloon City Magistracy today (Thursday) after being charged by the ICAC for their alleged roles in a fraud scam in relation to a public housing unit.
Siu Tak-ming, 54, unemployed, who was charged on Monday (August 12), faced three counts of fraud.
Also charged on Monday was Lam Siu-pan, 38, proprietor of Fu Ngai Decoration & Building Materials Co. (Fu Ngai), who faced two counts of forgery.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to their respective charges today. Principal Magistrate Mr Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned the case to September 26 this year for a pre-trial review.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above alleged offences.
At all material times between 1997 and 2013, a man and his two sons, who were the principal tenant and registered tenants of a unit in Tsz Man Estate, Tsz Wan Shan respectively, were residing in another country. During the period, Siu and his family had been living in that public housing unit.
According to the housing subsidy policy of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), households under public housing tenancy for 10 years have to declare their income biannually to the HA for assessing their eligibility to continue to pay the original rent.
Three of the charges alleged that in April 2007, April 2009 and May 2011, Siu falsely represented that the two sons were employed by a label production company, Fu Ngai and a design decoration firm at an average monthly salary of $8,400, $8,000 and $10,40 0 respectively.
With intent to defraud, Siu allegedly induced HA to approve the household of the unit in Tsz Man Estate to pay the original rent to HA.
The remaining two charges alleged that on a day in 2008 or 2009, Lam made two false employment proofs of the two sons respectively issued by Fu Ngai, with the intention that they should use them to induce somebody to accept them as genuine.
The defendants were each granted cash bail of $5,000. They were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses and not to leave Hong Kong.
HA had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Jeff Chow.
Siu Tak-ming, 54, unemployed, who was charged on Monday (August 12), faced three counts of fraud.
Also charged on Monday was Lam Siu-pan, 38, proprietor of Fu Ngai Decoration & Building Materials Co. (Fu Ngai), who faced two counts of forgery.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to their respective charges today. Principal Magistrate Mr Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned the case to September 26 this year for a pre-trial review.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above alleged offences.
At all material times between 1997 and 2013, a man and his two sons, who were the principal tenant and registered tenants of a unit in Tsz Man Estate, Tsz Wan Shan respectively, were residing in another country. During the period, Siu and his family had been living in that public housing unit.
According to the housing subsidy policy of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), households under public housing tenancy for 10 years have to declare their income biannually to the HA for assessing their eligibility to continue to pay the original rent.
Three of the charges alleged that in April 2007, April 2009 and May 2011, Siu falsely represented that the two sons were employed by a label production company, Fu Ngai and a design decoration firm at an average monthly salary of $8,400, $8,000 and $10,40 0 respectively.
With intent to defraud, Siu allegedly induced HA to approve the household of the unit in Tsz Man Estate to pay the original rent to HA.
The remaining two charges alleged that on a day in 2008 or 2009, Lam made two false employment proofs of the two sons respectively issued by Fu Ngai, with the intention that they should use them to induce somebody to accept them as genuine.
The defendants were each granted cash bail of $5,000. They were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses and not to leave Hong Kong.
HA had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Jeff Chow.