Duo admit $168,000 retraining funding fraud
2020-5-22
A former assistant principal and a former employee of a training body, charged by the ICAC, admitted at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (May 22) that they had conspired to defraud the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) of funding totalling about $168,000 by falsifying the attendance records of course participants.
Cho Man-wo, 35, former assistant principal of Hong Kong School of Commerce (HKSC), and Cheung Ho-cheung, 33, former project coordinator of HKSC, pleaded guilty to a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law.
Principal Magistrate Mr Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned the case until June 12 for sentence and granted the defendants cash bail.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above offence.
The court heard that in February 2015, the ERB signed a four-year service contract with HKSC, one of its training bodies, for providing different retraining courses. Cho and Cheung were respectively the assistant principal and project coordinator of HKSC responsible for managing ERB’s retraining courses provided by the school.
Before each financial year, HKSC would apply for allocation of training places to run retraining courses approved by the ERB. HKSC could apply for additional training places to run additional retraining courses if it could fulfil ERB’s requirements, including attaining an average attendance rate of 80 per cent or above for a particular course.
At the material time, “Foundation Certificate in Preparation for LCCI Level 1 Bookkeeping Examination (Part-time)” (the bookkeeping course) was one of the approved retraining courses run by HKSC under ERB’s funding.
In May 2017, Cho applied to the ERB for 22 additional training places for running an additional bookkeeping course. The application was rejected as the average attendance rate of the previous course was only 78 per cent.
In order to meet the attendance threshold, Cho and Cheung falsified the attendance records of three course participants who had either failed to attend any of the classes or had not attended most of the classes.
As a result, the ERB approved HKSC’s applications for 44 additional training places to run two additional retraining courses between August 2017 and March 2018. Training costs totalling about $168,000 was also reimbursed to HKSC.
Had the ERB known that the average attendance rate of the bookkeeping course was false, it would not have approved the subsequent applications by HKSC and released the relevant reimbursement.
The ERB had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Kayden Yuen.
Cho Man-wo, 35, former assistant principal of Hong Kong School of Commerce (HKSC), and Cheung Ho-cheung, 33, former project coordinator of HKSC, pleaded guilty to a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law.
Principal Magistrate Mr Peter Law Tak-chuen adjourned the case until June 12 for sentence and granted the defendants cash bail.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above offence.
The court heard that in February 2015, the ERB signed a four-year service contract with HKSC, one of its training bodies, for providing different retraining courses. Cho and Cheung were respectively the assistant principal and project coordinator of HKSC responsible for managing ERB’s retraining courses provided by the school.
Before each financial year, HKSC would apply for allocation of training places to run retraining courses approved by the ERB. HKSC could apply for additional training places to run additional retraining courses if it could fulfil ERB’s requirements, including attaining an average attendance rate of 80 per cent or above for a particular course.
At the material time, “Foundation Certificate in Preparation for LCCI Level 1 Bookkeeping Examination (Part-time)” (the bookkeeping course) was one of the approved retraining courses run by HKSC under ERB’s funding.
In May 2017, Cho applied to the ERB for 22 additional training places for running an additional bookkeeping course. The application was rejected as the average attendance rate of the previous course was only 78 per cent.
In order to meet the attendance threshold, Cho and Cheung falsified the attendance records of three course participants who had either failed to attend any of the classes or had not attended most of the classes.
As a result, the ERB approved HKSC’s applications for 44 additional training places to run two additional retraining courses between August 2017 and March 2018. Training costs totalling about $168,000 was also reimbursed to HKSC.
Had the ERB known that the average attendance rate of the bookkeeping course was false, it would not have approved the subsequent applications by HKSC and released the relevant reimbursement.
The ERB had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Kayden Yuen.