Court rejects misconduct appeal of ex-official

The Court of Appeal has thrown out the appeal of married former official Wilson Fung Wing-yip over his conviction of public misconduct in his dealings with his mistress.

Fung, 57, has completed his nine-month jail term after being convicted in 2019 on a public misconduct charge for failing to declare a conflict of interest when accepting HK$510,000 from his mistress, Macau businesswoman Cheyenne Chan Ung-iok, the sister-in-law of late casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun.

But the former deputy secretary of the Economic Development and Labour Bureau was acquitted of accepting an advantage as a public servant by judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong in the same District Court trial.

Fung appealed against his conviction for misconduct last December, insisting he did not know Chan was the director and shareholder of Hong Kong Express when he handled air traffic rights applications from the company.

Vice-president of the Court of Appeal Wally Yeung Chun-kuen and judges Derek Pang Wai Cheong and Anthea Pang Po-kam said in a written judgment yesterday that Fung's claim was self-deluding and unconvincing.

"This court believes [Fung's] claim that he did not know the identity of Chan was a perverse testimony. Any person with a rational mind would not accept his claim," the judges said.

The judges added that Fung and Chan both attended aviation-related events in October 2003 and even became lovers in December 2003 and saw each other almost every day, which indicates it is impossible for them to not have known each other.

They added Fung admitted that he knew Chan was a director at the aviation company in 2005 but still chose not to disclose his relationship with her to the authorities.

"[Fung's behavior] had shown that he deliberately avoided disclosing his relationship with Chan and reporting it to the government, because he obviously knew his conduct was improper," the judges said.

Senior counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen, who represented Fung, argued that the case of former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has changed the legal principles of the offense of misconduct.

Tse said if the defendant's bribery charge could not lead to a conviction, the prosecution should raise an alternative charge of non-bribery nature to prove his misconduct.

But the judges yesterday rejected Tse's claim, saying Tsang's case did not have any impact on Fung's case and Tse was just trying to distract the court's attention.

They added that the original conviction was "correct, reasonable and in line with the principles laid down in the relevant cases."

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com