A then principal of a government-aided primary school, charged by the ICAC, was today (Feb. 21) sentenced to six months' imprisonment at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts for making false representations about not receiving salary payments and being authorized to withdraw funds for organizing activities to deceive the school into making duplicate salary payments to him for two months and granting him school funds totaling over HK$270,000.
Chen Yi-hsin, 47, then principal of Yan Chai Hospital Chiu Tsang Hok Wan Primary School, earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.
In sentencing, Magistrate Peter Yu Chun-cheung remarked that the wrongdoing of the defendant breached the trust placed in him as a school principal and the court would not consider meting out a community service order. A jail term of six month was imposed on the defendant, having considered his guilty plea and other mitigating factors.
An ICAC spokesperson notes that a school principal, as the leader of a school, should not use his official position for personal gains. The ICAC will continue to adopt its three-pronged strategy in safeguarding a clean education sector. In addition to stringent enforcement actions, the Commission has published a Best Practice Checklist on Governance and Internal Control in Schools and organized anti-corruption seminars for principals and staff to help fortify good governance and a culture of integrity in the sector.
The court heard that in early April and early May 2023, the defendant had made false representations to the school that he had not received his salaries for the months of March and April 2023 through bank autopay. As a result, the school was deceived into making duplicate salary payments for the two months totaling over HK$150,000 to him by issuing cheques.
Between May and June 2023, the defendant falsely represented to the school on two occasions that he had obtained the approval of the sponsoring body and the supervisor of the school to withdraw funds from its bank account for organizing activities for staff and students, so as to defraud the school of two payments totaling HK$120,000.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that the defendant had received the salary payments for the two months concerned through his bank account by autopay in late March and late April 2023 respectively. After receiving the payments of HK$120,000 from the school for organizing activities, the defendant deposited them into his own bank account for personal use, and he had never spent the money on school expenses. The defendant left the school in late December 2023.
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