Trio in court over $450,000 false claims for lost registered mails
2016-9-2
A former officer of the Hongkong Post (HKPost) and two others appeared in the Eastern Magistracy today (Friday) after being charged by the ICAC with conspiracy to defraud the HKPost of compensation totalling over $450,000 for lost registered mails.
Chan Ka-yau, 31, former Customer Service Officer of HKPost; Cho Shek-hang, 31, unemployed; and Ng Chun-yin, 33, system analyst, who were charged on Wednesday (August 31), faced a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to common law.
No plea was taken today. Acting Principal Magistrate Mr Joseph To Ho-shing transferred the case to the District Court for plea on September 23 this year.
The case arose from a corruption complaint referred by HKPost. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above alleged offence.
At the material time, Chan was a Customer Service Officer of HKPost posted to its Mail Tracing Office. Cho and Ng were former schoolmates of Chan.
According to the policy of HKPost, the sender of a registered mail is eligible for compensation of up to a maximum of $320 plus postage, if the mail is lost during delivery.
The charge alleged that between an unknown date in 2012 and May 20, 2015, the defendants conspired together to defraud HKPost.
The defendants were alleged to have dishonestly sent 3,039 mails via HKPost by registered post in the name of “Mr Cho”, “Mr Ng” or “Mr Choi” to various persons being the addressees of the mails in Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Italy, the United Kingdom and Kuwait.
They were also alleged to have falsely represented that 1,531 of the 3,039 registered mails, which could not be traced and were regarded as lost by HKPost, contained each a ball pen at a value of either $460 or $500; and that “Mr Cho” and “Mr Ng” were entitled to claim the maximum amount of compensation in the sum of $320 plus postage from HKPost for each of the 1,531 registered mails.
As a result, the defendants allegedly caused and induced staff members of HKPost to release a total sum of over $451,000 to Cho and Ng as compensation for 1,398 of the 1,531 registered mails.
The defendants were each granted cash bail of $10,000. They were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.
HKPost had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Eric Chan.
Chan Ka-yau, 31, former Customer Service Officer of HKPost; Cho Shek-hang, 31, unemployed; and Ng Chun-yin, 33, system analyst, who were charged on Wednesday (August 31), faced a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to common law.
No plea was taken today. Acting Principal Magistrate Mr Joseph To Ho-shing transferred the case to the District Court for plea on September 23 this year.
The case arose from a corruption complaint referred by HKPost. Subsequent ICAC enquiries revealed the above alleged offence.
At the material time, Chan was a Customer Service Officer of HKPost posted to its Mail Tracing Office. Cho and Ng were former schoolmates of Chan.
According to the policy of HKPost, the sender of a registered mail is eligible for compensation of up to a maximum of $320 plus postage, if the mail is lost during delivery.
The charge alleged that between an unknown date in 2012 and May 20, 2015, the defendants conspired together to defraud HKPost.
The defendants were alleged to have dishonestly sent 3,039 mails via HKPost by registered post in the name of “Mr Cho”, “Mr Ng” or “Mr Choi” to various persons being the addressees of the mails in Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Italy, the United Kingdom and Kuwait.
They were also alleged to have falsely represented that 1,531 of the 3,039 registered mails, which could not be traced and were regarded as lost by HKPost, contained each a ball pen at a value of either $460 or $500; and that “Mr Cho” and “Mr Ng” were entitled to claim the maximum amount of compensation in the sum of $320 plus postage from HKPost for each of the 1,531 registered mails.
As a result, the defendants allegedly caused and induced staff members of HKPost to release a total sum of over $451,000 to Cho and Ng as compensation for 1,398 of the 1,531 registered mails.
The defendants were each granted cash bail of $10,000. They were also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.
HKPost had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.
The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Eric Chan.