A former assistant teacher at the Lutheran School for the Deaf was sentenced to 28 days in jail for concealing that he was under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption while seeking and retaining employment at the school.
Yau Sing-ho, 32, had previously been convicted in February of fraud over his failure to disclose outside insurance work while serving as an immigration officer. He was sentenced in that case to three months in prison, suspended for three years.
The ICAC brought three further fraud charges against Yau in January this year, alleging that he failed to disclose the ongoing investigation when he was hired as an assistant teacher at the government-aided special school.
The offenses were said to have taken place on three occasions between July 2022 and November 2023.
In mitigation, defense counsel Franco Kuan Bak-on said a community service order report was favorable and that Yau had shown a strong desire to turn over a new leaf.
Kuan said Yau posed a low risk of reoffending, had been of previous good character and had helped students with special educational needs during his time at the school.
He urged the court to impose a community service order of moderate duration.
Magistrate Jeffrey Sze Cho-yiu, sitting at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, said Yau had intended to deceive the school from the outset.
Sze said that when Yau signed his employment contract after the interview, he was fully aware the school would not have hired him had it known he was under ICAC investigation.
The magistrate said Yau had been motivated by the prospect of earning a salary and had taken the risk that his situation would not be discovered.
He also noted that Yau only disclosed the investigation to the school after the case had already attracted widespread media attention.
Sze sentenced Yau to 28 days in prison, and Yau subsequently applied for bail pending appeal, which was granted.
