Hong Kong graft-buster charges law professor with fraud for allegedly cheating university out of HK$700,000 in rent allowances
- Alice Lee, 54, falsely claimed she complied with housing allowance ‘live-in requirement’ when she was staying at her parents’ home, agency alleges
- A personal friend of hers was found to be sole tenant of flat, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption
A law professor at the University of Hong Kong has been charged with fraud for allegedly cheating the institution out of more than HK$700,000 (US$89,239) in rent allowances.
Alice Lee Suet-ching, 54, an associate professor of the university’s department of law, where she served as associate dean (academic affairs) from 2011 to 2020, was charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Wednesday.
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Lee, who specialised in property and intellectual property law, joined the department in August 1992 and applied for the university’s private tenancy allowance for a rented flat in Kowloon in October 2005. She then renewed it every two years.
The ICAC alleged that between October 29, 2019, and October 31, 2021, Lee falsely declared she complied with the “live-in requirement” in the application, inducing the institution to reimburse her the rent, rates and management charges of more than HK$720,000.
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An investigation triggered by a complaint filed with the ICAC found Lee had been living with her parents at other premises in the New Territories, and a personal friend was the sole occupant of the flat in Kowloon, the anti-graft agency said.
If the university had known Lee had not complied with the “live-in requirement”, it would not have reimbursed her, an ICAC spokesman said on Wednesday.
Lee was released on bail and will appear in Eastern Court on Friday, pending the prosecution’s application to transfer the case to the District Court, the spokesman said.
