A source confirmed Tuesday, Roland Leung Yik-lun, a radio host and former pop star and actor, had been arrested along with three others as part of a corruption investigation.

According to local Chinese-language media reports, Leung, 34, is alleged to be involved in a scheme in which station members posed as relatives and family members and billed the government-funded RTHK, for freelance work done under those names.

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According to some reports, the scheme went on for about seven years, and participants were paid HK$11,000. The ICAC is said to have requested up to 80 receipts from RTHK in relation to the investigation.

Leung's sister was among the people arrested and questioned by the anti- graft body. The other two people taken in for questioning were a former program director and a former assistant. All four have been released on bail.

The ICAC would not comment on the case.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for RTHK issued a brief statement explaining Leung's spot would be filled by a temporary replacement,andrefused to answer questions about Leung's failure to appear on his radio show.

The arrests come on the heels of another corruption investigation against other RTHK disc jockeys and directors.

In June, the ICAC arrested David Ho Chung-yan, deputy head of RTHK2, disc jockey Vera Lee, known as La La Lam, as well as former disc jockey Kawaii Wong-ching and her mother.

Those arrestswere in response to an alleged scheme in which Ho and Lee apparently conspired to charge for program scripts they had not written.

The recent suspected improprieties were uncovered in the course of investigating the previous case from June, according to The Standard's sister paper, Sing Tao Daily.

Calls to Leung's mobile phone were not answered from Monday evening, Sing Tao reported. RTHK has been trying to plug a number of loopholes in the wake of these scandals, as well as two public reports over the past year blaming the public broadcaster for lavish spending.

An independent government-appointed committee is also expected to present the conclusions of its nearly year-long investigation into the future of public broadcasting in Hong Kong.

That report is expected to have profound implications for the future of the 80-year-old station. STAFF REPORTER