Ex-primary school principal charged by ICAC guilty of MIPO for concealing financial interests in tutorial centre and divulging exam questions
2025-4-30
A former principal of a government-aided primary school and a close friend of him, charged by the ICAC, were today (April 30) convicted after trial at the District Court of misconduct in public office (MIPO) for concealing that the principal had funded the personal friend to set up a tutorial centre near the school and conspired together to leak confidential examination and quiz questions of the school to the tutorial centre prior to the examinations and quizzes.
Henry Kwok Chiu-kwan, 52, former principal of Tak Sun School, was found guilty of one count of MIPO, contrary to the Common Law. Kwok and Pang Wing-han, 48, former director-cum-shareholder of Diligence Learning Centre Limited (DLC), were further found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit MIPO, contrary to the Common Law and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
In convicting the defendants, Judge Mrs Adriana Noelle Tse Ching remarked that Kwok’s relationship with Pang and his financial interest in the tutorial centre revealed in the present case came within the definition of a conflict of interest. Kwok knew that there was a conflict of interest but he had not made any declaration to the school.
The Judge added that any normal person, even a child, would know that disclosure of examination questions prior to the examination was dishonest. As the principal of Tak Sun School, Kwok abused the trust reposed in him by the school. His dishonest behaviour and misconduct departed from his responsibilities as school principal and would bring Tak Sun School and the education system into disrepute.
The judge adjourned the case to July 10 for mitigation. The duo were remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
An ICAC spokesperson notes that school management organisations and parents have high expectations on the ethical conduct of school principals who play a vital role in the daily management of the schools. The Commission attaches great importance to school integrity management and has all along been providing integrity training for the education sector so as to fortify its probity culture. To ensure the integrity of all processes, schools are recommended to adopt corruption prevention safeguards in their operation set out in the Best Practice Checklist on Governance and Internal Control in Schools published by the ICAC.
At the material time, Kwok, who was the principal of Tak Sun School, and Pang, the parent of an alumnus of the school, were close friends. In mid-June 2017, Pang, together with a business partner, set up DLC and became its director and major shareholder. DLC ran a tutorial centre near Tak Sun School providing examination tutorial classes to students, most of whom came from Tak Sun School.
The court heard that Tak Sun School and the Education Bureau (EDB) had received complaints alleging that Kwok was associated with DLC, and that the questions in the exercises provided by DLC were very similar to those of the examination papers of Tak Sun School. Responding to the Incorporated Management Committee (IMC) of Tak Sun School and the EDB, Kwok claimed that he had no association with DLC. In the four annual declaration of interests forms submitted to Tak Sun School at the material time, he stated that he and his direct relatives had no financial interests in any organisations which had official dealings with the school.
The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Kwok transferred a sum of $420,000 to the bank account of Pang for the operation of DLC in late July 2017.
The court heard that for the purpose of secondary school places allocation, Tak Sun School was required to submit students’ internal assessment results of Term 3 of Primary 5 and Terms 1 and 2 of Primary 6 to the EDB. Examination papers of all subjects of the school were vetted and approved by Kwok in his capacity as the school principal.
Computer forensics investigation by the ICAC found that in the two academic years between 2019 and 2021, Kwok had passed soft copies of confidential examination and quiz questions of Tak Sun School, including that of core subjects such as Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics of all grades, to Pang on various occasions before the scheduled examinations and quizzes.
The two defendants were arrested by ICAC officers in June 2021, and examination papers of all subjects of Primary 1 to 6 of Tak Sun School were seized at the tutorial centre of DCL. Questions on Tak Sun School’s examination papers were identical or very similar to those of the exercises of the tutorial centre.
As the examination papers concerned covered core subjects of Primary 5 involving examination results to be submitted to the EDB, Tak Sun School eventually did not submit the relevant results to the EDB and arranged students to re-sit the relevant examinations upon the approval of the EDB in September 2021 to safeguard the fairness of the examination and school places allocation.
The EDB and IMC of Tak Sun School rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Antony Leung, assisted by ICAC officer Jason Tsang.
Henry Kwok Chiu-kwan, 52, former principal of Tak Sun School, was found guilty of one count of MIPO, contrary to the Common Law. Kwok and Pang Wing-han, 48, former director-cum-shareholder of Diligence Learning Centre Limited (DLC), were further found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit MIPO, contrary to the Common Law and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.
In convicting the defendants, Judge Mrs Adriana Noelle Tse Ching remarked that Kwok’s relationship with Pang and his financial interest in the tutorial centre revealed in the present case came within the definition of a conflict of interest. Kwok knew that there was a conflict of interest but he had not made any declaration to the school.
The Judge added that any normal person, even a child, would know that disclosure of examination questions prior to the examination was dishonest. As the principal of Tak Sun School, Kwok abused the trust reposed in him by the school. His dishonest behaviour and misconduct departed from his responsibilities as school principal and would bring Tak Sun School and the education system into disrepute.
The judge adjourned the case to July 10 for mitigation. The duo were remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
An ICAC spokesperson notes that school management organisations and parents have high expectations on the ethical conduct of school principals who play a vital role in the daily management of the schools. The Commission attaches great importance to school integrity management and has all along been providing integrity training for the education sector so as to fortify its probity culture. To ensure the integrity of all processes, schools are recommended to adopt corruption prevention safeguards in their operation set out in the Best Practice Checklist on Governance and Internal Control in Schools published by the ICAC.
At the material time, Kwok, who was the principal of Tak Sun School, and Pang, the parent of an alumnus of the school, were close friends. In mid-June 2017, Pang, together with a business partner, set up DLC and became its director and major shareholder. DLC ran a tutorial centre near Tak Sun School providing examination tutorial classes to students, most of whom came from Tak Sun School.
The court heard that Tak Sun School and the Education Bureau (EDB) had received complaints alleging that Kwok was associated with DLC, and that the questions in the exercises provided by DLC were very similar to those of the examination papers of Tak Sun School. Responding to the Incorporated Management Committee (IMC) of Tak Sun School and the EDB, Kwok claimed that he had no association with DLC. In the four annual declaration of interests forms submitted to Tak Sun School at the material time, he stated that he and his direct relatives had no financial interests in any organisations which had official dealings with the school.
The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Kwok transferred a sum of $420,000 to the bank account of Pang for the operation of DLC in late July 2017.
The court heard that for the purpose of secondary school places allocation, Tak Sun School was required to submit students’ internal assessment results of Term 3 of Primary 5 and Terms 1 and 2 of Primary 6 to the EDB. Examination papers of all subjects of the school were vetted and approved by Kwok in his capacity as the school principal.
Computer forensics investigation by the ICAC found that in the two academic years between 2019 and 2021, Kwok had passed soft copies of confidential examination and quiz questions of Tak Sun School, including that of core subjects such as Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics of all grades, to Pang on various occasions before the scheduled examinations and quizzes.
The two defendants were arrested by ICAC officers in June 2021, and examination papers of all subjects of Primary 1 to 6 of Tak Sun School were seized at the tutorial centre of DCL. Questions on Tak Sun School’s examination papers were identical or very similar to those of the exercises of the tutorial centre.
As the examination papers concerned covered core subjects of Primary 5 involving examination results to be submitted to the EDB, Tak Sun School eventually did not submit the relevant results to the EDB and arranged students to re-sit the relevant examinations upon the approval of the EDB in September 2021 to safeguard the fairness of the examination and school places allocation.
The EDB and IMC of Tak Sun School rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Antony Leung, assisted by ICAC officer Jason Tsang.