Warning to migrants amid claims of school, bank bribes

Those who have migrated to Hong Kong have been warned to abide by the city's anti-corruption laws amid cases of school staff being bribed so children of the new arrivals would be admitted.

Lawmaker Jesse Shang Hailong said he has received requests for assistance from mainlanders after they allegedly tried to give "red packets" to school staff.

Others are said to have attempted to bribe bank staff in the hopes of opening an account as soon as possible, he added.

Shang, founder of the Hong Kong Top Talent Services Association, told The Standard's sister newspaper Sing Tao Daily that such incidents have occurred since early last year.

He has received some 10 requests for assistance so far.

"Some people have been prohibited from leaving Hong Kong to assist in the investigation and thus could not work," Shang said. "I urge the new arrivals not to break the law."

Similar cases happened before the talent scheme was launched.

In July 2022, a 45-year-old one-way permit holder, Li Junping, offered a HK$20,000 bribe to the principal of Hennessy Road Government Primary School (Causeway Bay) to secure a spot for her son.

She pleaded guilty last March and was sentenced to four months in jail.

"As the summer holiday - the peak of the interim admission - approaches, new arrivals should not take shortcuts, to promote the culture of integrity," Shang said.

Shang believes offenders might not be familiar with local laws and so he has been posting reminders in WeChat groups and disseminating knowledge of the city's anti-corruption laws in a bi-monthly top talent seminar.

He has also been featured in an awareness video for the Independent Commission Against Corruption, telling new arrivals they cannot evade criminal liability by being unfamiliar with the law.

The video reminds public and private sector employees not to breach the anti-corruption ordinance, and should report cases to the ICAC.

The video was released on the ICAC's WeChat account.

As of March the government had received more than 77,000 applications after the introduction of the Top Talent Pass Scheme at the end of 2022. About 62,000 have been approved.

Shang added that individual cases are "sad," but the public "should not form a hasty generalization" of the new arrivals.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Talent Engage is holding an online job fair on Wednesday.

There are over 500 professional job vacancies on offer.

Six large-scale public and private organizations - dealing in artificial intelligence, information technology and cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing tech, biomedical tech, aviation, banking, legal services and human resources - will participate. The job fair will be livestreamed at 2.30pm.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com