Health Inspector of Centre for Food Safety charged by ICAC admits stealing food samples by abusing power
2024-10-3
The ICAC earlier charged several Health Inspectors of the Centre for Food Safety (the Centre) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) for allegedly abusing their power by failing to properly dispose of unused food samples after testing, and stealing those food. One of the Health Inspectors concerned pleaded guilty to his offence at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (October 3).
Lau Shing-hin, 35, Health Inspector of the FEHD, today pleaded guilty to one count of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance. Principal Magistrate Miss Ivy Chui Yee-mei adjourned the case to November 6 for mention, and granted Lau bail.
The Centre is responsible for ensuring food sold in Hong Kong is safe and fit for consumption. At the material time, Lau was posted to a team of the Food Import/Export Section of the Risk Management Division of the Centre. His duties included conducting food tests on radiation level.
The Centre requires Health Inspectors to purchase a suitable amount of randomly selected food samples at a fair and reasonable price for conducting the test. In addition, the Centre prohibits its officers from deliberately ordering excessive food samples or misappropriating any untested food samples. After conducting tests, unused food samples should be disposed of in accordance with established procedures and the disposal should be properly documented.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in connection with the purchase of food samples by officers of the Centre. The investigation revealed that before conducting the tests, the five defendants had planned to misappropriate the residual food samples.
ICAC officers subsequently recovered at Lau’s home various unused food samples, including Italian cheese, canned French beef stew and Spanish canned seafood.
Lau admitted that between May 2022 and March 2023, he had stolen part of the food samples purchased on behalf of the Centre for the purpose of conducting food tests.
Meanwhile, the four co-defendants, namely Chan Ying-shan, Lam Hiu-kwan, Yu Fung-chun and Lee Chun-hei, aged between 29 and 38, all Health Inspectors of the FEHD, jointly faced one count of conspiracy to steal, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. No plea was taken when they appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts for mention today. Their case was adjourned to November 6 for mention.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Venus Leung.
The FEHD had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. Following the findings of this case, the ICAC has provided FEHD with corruption prevention recommendations to stamp out malpractices. Also, the ICAC has provided additional integrity refresher training to all FEHD staff responsible for food testing.
Lau Shing-hin, 35, Health Inspector of the FEHD, today pleaded guilty to one count of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance. Principal Magistrate Miss Ivy Chui Yee-mei adjourned the case to November 6 for mention, and granted Lau bail.
The Centre is responsible for ensuring food sold in Hong Kong is safe and fit for consumption. At the material time, Lau was posted to a team of the Food Import/Export Section of the Risk Management Division of the Centre. His duties included conducting food tests on radiation level.
The Centre requires Health Inspectors to purchase a suitable amount of randomly selected food samples at a fair and reasonable price for conducting the test. In addition, the Centre prohibits its officers from deliberately ordering excessive food samples or misappropriating any untested food samples. After conducting tests, unused food samples should be disposed of in accordance with established procedures and the disposal should be properly documented.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in connection with the purchase of food samples by officers of the Centre. The investigation revealed that before conducting the tests, the five defendants had planned to misappropriate the residual food samples.
ICAC officers subsequently recovered at Lau’s home various unused food samples, including Italian cheese, canned French beef stew and Spanish canned seafood.
Lau admitted that between May 2022 and March 2023, he had stolen part of the food samples purchased on behalf of the Centre for the purpose of conducting food tests.
Meanwhile, the four co-defendants, namely Chan Ying-shan, Lam Hiu-kwan, Yu Fung-chun and Lee Chun-hei, aged between 29 and 38, all Health Inspectors of the FEHD, jointly faced one count of conspiracy to steal, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. No plea was taken when they appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts for mention today. Their case was adjourned to November 6 for mention.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Venus Leung.
The FEHD had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. Following the findings of this case, the ICAC has provided FEHD with corruption prevention recommendations to stamp out malpractices. Also, the ICAC has provided additional integrity refresher training to all FEHD staff responsible for food testing.