A man, charged by the ICAC, admitted at the Kwun Tong Magistracy today (July 20) that he had bribed a driving examiner of the Transport Department (TD) with a red packet containing $5,000 so as to get a pass in a driving test.

Cheung Yan, 41, unemployed, today pleaded guilty to one count of offering an advantage to a public servant, contrary to Section 4(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

Acting Principal Magistrate Mr Don So Man-lung adjourned the case to August 8 this year for sentence, pending a background report. The defendant was remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.

The court heard that the defendant attended Yau Tong Driving Test Centre of the TD for his second attempt of a private car driving test on April 5 this year. A Driving Examiner II of the TD was randomly allotted to be the driving examiner.

The defendant boarded a car after registration. When the driving examiner entered the car, the defendant offered a red packet to him and said: “Sir, this is a greeting gift for you.”

The defendant repeated his offer despite the driving examiner’s refusal to accept the red packet.

While the driving examiner was checking the defendant’s Hong Kong Identity Card and Learner’s Driving Licence, the defendant placed the red packet on the driving examiner’s clipboard and reiterated: “Sir, this is a greeting gift for you.”

The driving examiner opened the red packet and found a few $1,000 banknotes in it, the court was told.

The examiner immediately reported the matter to the officer-in-charge of the centre, and a report was subsequently made to the ICAC.

The defendant was arrested by the ICAC on the same day and the red packet was seized from him. The red packet, marked with “Yan OK $5,000”, was found containing five $1,000 banknotes.

The case arose from a corruption complaint referred by the TD, which had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer David Ng.