The anti-graft investigator lied in a fraud trial to hide that he pressurised suspect
An anti-graft officer was jailed for nine months yesterday for lying in a fraud trial to conceal the fact that he had threatened a suspect to co-operate with a probe by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Deputy Judge Andrew Ma Hon-cheung told Lau Wai-tim, an assistant ICAC investigator, that a deterrent sentence was called for due to the serious nature of the offence.
Lau, 38, was found guilty of perjury in the District Court. He and fellow assistant investigator Chung Wai-man, 33, were cleared of a charge of intending to pervert the course of justice. Mr Chung was only charged with the latter.
Judge Ma found that the two officers had induced and threatened Hung Hin-shun, 49, when interviewing him at his Fanling home on October 14, 1999.
Mr Hung, who was charged with conspiracy to defraud but was acquitted in September 2001 in the District Court, secretly taped part of the 30-minute conversation. The tape revealed that the two officers pressured and misled him to disclose information about a corruption complaint over a housing project. However, Judge Ma said he had to clear the two officers of the perversion of justice charge as the prosecution had failed to prove that in threatening Mr Hung they intended to prejudice his fraud trial. In Mr Hung's fraud trial in September 2001, Lau had denied having a conversation with Mr Hung at his home.
