ESF kindy official, 10 parents face bribery charges

A former administrator at an English Schools Foundation kindergarten and 10 parents have been charged for accepting and offering over HK$900,000 in bribes so their children could be admitted to K1 classes.

The parents, aged 34 to 44 and who come from eight families, allegedly gave between HK$20,000 and HK$100,000 in bribes for 13 children to be admitted to ESF Wu Kai Sha International Kindergarten in Ma On Shan between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 school years.

Fatima Rumjahn, 52, was the administrator of the kindergarten at the time and responsible for handling K1 admissions.

She faces 13 charges, including eight involving conspiracy to accept an advantage, four as an agent accepting an advantage and one as an agent soliciting an advantage

The conspiracy charges allege that Rumjahn separately conspired with eight families, including two couples - Marissa Choy Wai-yin and partner Lee Chun-long as well as Cora Lam Man-hei and husband Cheung Ka-ming - and six mothers to accept eight bribes totaling over HK$650,000.

The mothers were named as Tsui Wai-him, Kong Ching-men, Julia Wong Wing-man, Vida Lau Ying-kwan (formerly known as Vida Lau Wai-tak), Ma Yin-man and Li Jiebing.

Rumjahn allegedly made ESF offer eight placements at WKSK in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years for their children.

Lau jointly faces two conspiracy charges with her, while the Lees, Cheungs and the five other mothers each jointly face one conspiracy count with Rumjahn.

Kong further faces one count of inciting an agent to solicit an advantage as she allegedly incited Rumjahn to solicit a bribe from Choy for her child's placement.

Rumjahn also allegedly accepted bribes totaling HK$190,000 from four other unnamed mothers so their children can be admitted to K1 classes in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

She also allegedly solicited a bribe of HK$50,000 from another mother for her child to get into the K1 2019-20 class, but the mother declined the request.

Rumjahn and the 10 parents will appear in Sha Tin Magistrates' Court tomorrow for the case to be transferred to the District Court.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption reminded parents that they should never offer bribes in exchange for school placements.

If parents are asked to pay bribes when they are making admission applications, they should refuse immediately and report to the watchdog.

According to the ESF's website, children joining an ESF K1 class from August 2020 will be guaranteed a place at an ESF primary school as well as a secondary school.

In response to the bribery case, ESF chief executive Belinda Greer said Rumjahn has been dismissed while the foundation has conducted an internal inquiry.

"Our investigation included other ESF schools which uncovered no further wrongdoing. We have reviewed and made changes to the admissions process and have tightened admissions procedures." Greer said.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com