Govt officer held as call-girl syndicate smashed

The anti-vice squad has smashed a "high-class" call-girl syndicate following the arrest of five core members, including a 30-year-old assistant district officer of the Home Affairs Department, a police source said.

James Lam Fong-tat, an assistant district officer in Sha Tin, is alleged to have booked hotel rooms under his name.

The hotel rooms were used as love nests for prostitution.

In a reply to The Standard, the Home Affairs Department said last night it was looking into the matter.

The other four arrested - including alleged male and female masterminds of the syndicate - claimed to be a piano teacher, a model, a salesman and a construction worker.

Police said officers arrested four men and a woman, aged 27 to 42 on Wednesday and yesterday for controlling other persons for the purpose of prostitution, and living on the earnings of prostitution of others.

No charges had been laid against them by last night. Sources said the arrests were made by the West Kowloon crime unit in a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel on Wednesday night.

A number of prostitutes and customers were also held. Officers found the hotel rooms used by the syndicate were rented by a 30-year-old man surnamed Lam.

They later traced the bookings to an administrative officer currently working as an assistant district officer for Sha Tin.

He was arrested for permitting his premises to be used for habitual prostitution. He has been released on bail pending further investigations.

Police are still investigating Lam's connections with the syndicate.

It is understood that Lam graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2014. He was among 335 civil servants awarded the Chief Executive's Commendation for Government/Public Service last year for his outstanding contribution to the fight against Covid-19.

The title of an assistant district officer is usually held by an administrative officer, or a senior administrative officer.

It usually takes seven years' experience to be promoted as a senior.

Lam's Linkedin account says he is a senior administrative officer, meaning his monthly salary ranges from HK$117,580 to HK$135,470, according to the Civil Service Bureau's master pay scale.

Lam's major duty is handling district council matters, including attending DC meetings, as well as liaising with councillors and district groups. In April last year, a meeting of the Sha Tin DC's Traffic and Transport Committee saw a lack of quorum and Lam was accused by pro-democratic councillors of leaving the meeting. Assistant district officers are deputies to district officers, who are essentially the head of districts under the Home Affairs Department. Each of the SAR's 18 districts comes with a district officer, and one or two assistant district officers - depending on the population of the region - all of whom are administrative officers.

According to previous police arrests of "high-class" prostitution syndicate members, sex workers are usually arranged to stay at different hotel rooms to provide sexual services, sources said.

High-end hotels, worried the prostitution business would harm their reputation, will pay attention to the identity of customers who intend to book multiple rooms.

If customers are not in the tourism industry and their identities are suspicious, the hotels will not allow long-term booking.

Crime syndicates would require people in the higher class to book the rooms for them to ease hotels' concerns.

Police last busted a high-class call-girl syndicate in August 2020 when they arrested 38 people, including six core members, five who helped operations and 27 mainland women aged from 17 to 36 who were smuggled to Hong Kong for prostitution.

Most of the mainlanders were young women aged from 18 to their early 20s, and each had to pay about HK$6,000 to be smuggled to Hong Kong by sea.

It is understood this syndicate always booked two high-class hotels in Yau Tsim Mong district,and would take out HK$300 from the prostitutes' income as commission. During its four-month operation, the syndicate transferred HK$6 million income to the mainland. Three local women aged 23 to 35 were arrested for allegedly controlling persons for the purpose of prostitution and living on earnings of prostitution, while eight local men, aged 22 to 61, were arrested for allegedly aiding and abetting illegal immigrants.