Ex-Tai Po DC member goes to jail after appeal dismissed
2016-1-29
A former member of the Tai Po District Council (DC), charged by the ICAC, was today (Friday) sent to jail to serve his five-month prison term after the Court of First Instance dismissed his appeal against conviction of making false claims of about $500,000 from the Tai Po DC Secretariat.
Lo Sou-chour, 61, was found guilty at the Fanling Magistracy of four counts of fraud, contrary to Section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance, and jailed for five months in April last year. He was granted bail pending his appeal against conviction.
In dismissing his appeal against conviction today, Madam Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay ordered that Lo be sent to jail to serve his five-month jail term.
The judge also rejected Lo’s application for bail pending his appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above offences.
The court heard that at the material time, Lo was a member of the Tai Po DC. He was entitled to obtain reimbursement for expenses related to discharging his duties, including the employment of his staff, under Operating Expenses Reimbursement (OER), or known as Operating Expenses Allowance (OEA) before January 2011.
As stipulated in the Guidelines on Remuneration Package for Members of the DCs, OER or OEA would only be paid on an accountable and reimbursement basis.
Between August 1, 2008 and February 28, 2013, Lo employed three councillor assistants (CA) and a part-time CA at a monthly salary ranging from $1,980 to $8,000.
Prior to paying salaries to those CAs, Lo asked them to sign on their receipts, the court heard.
Lo then submitted a total of 94 monthly salary receipts of the CAs to the Tai Po DC Secretariat for reimbursement when the salaries had not been paid to them.
Lo subsequently received salary reimbursements totalling $494,580. But he defaulted in paying one of the CAs three months of salary totalling $23,200 and the part-time CA five months of salary amounting to $20,000.
Had the Tai Po DC Secretariat known that Lo had not made the payments for the receipts submitted, it would not have approved the reimbursement claims made by him, the court was told.
Lo Sou-chour, 61, was found guilty at the Fanling Magistracy of four counts of fraud, contrary to Section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance, and jailed for five months in April last year. He was granted bail pending his appeal against conviction.
In dismissing his appeal against conviction today, Madam Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay ordered that Lo be sent to jail to serve his five-month jail term.
The judge also rejected Lo’s application for bail pending his appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above offences.
The court heard that at the material time, Lo was a member of the Tai Po DC. He was entitled to obtain reimbursement for expenses related to discharging his duties, including the employment of his staff, under Operating Expenses Reimbursement (OER), or known as Operating Expenses Allowance (OEA) before January 2011.
As stipulated in the Guidelines on Remuneration Package for Members of the DCs, OER or OEA would only be paid on an accountable and reimbursement basis.
Between August 1, 2008 and February 28, 2013, Lo employed three councillor assistants (CA) and a part-time CA at a monthly salary ranging from $1,980 to $8,000.
Prior to paying salaries to those CAs, Lo asked them to sign on their receipts, the court heard.
Lo then submitted a total of 94 monthly salary receipts of the CAs to the Tai Po DC Secretariat for reimbursement when the salaries had not been paid to them.
Lo subsequently received salary reimbursements totalling $494,580. But he defaulted in paying one of the CAs three months of salary totalling $23,200 and the part-time CA five months of salary amounting to $20,000.
Had the Tai Po DC Secretariat known that Lo had not made the payments for the receipts submitted, it would not have approved the reimbursement claims made by him, the court was told.