HKU dean admits inducing patients to donate HK$4m to firm

The disgraced former dean of the University of Hong Kong's medical school has admitted he induced patients to make donations and payments totalling nearly HK$4 million to his own company, although he said the money was ultimately spent for the good of the faculty. Professor Lam Shiu-kum, 66, pleaded guilty in the District Court to one count of misconduct in public office between September 1, 2003, and January 26, 2007. Thirty counts of fraud and three of theft were left on file. Sentencing for Lam, a graduate of the school who worked his way up from intern to dean and is a world authority on gastroenterology, was adjourned until tomorrow. The court heard that Lam induced 12 of his patients at Queen Mary Hospital to make payments totalling HK$130,000 to his wholly owned company Gastrointestinal Research. He also procured three patients to make donations of HK$3.8 million to his company and failed to disclose a conflict of interest between his roles as dean of the school and owner of the company. The case came to light when a patient who had already paid Lam got a bill from the hospital and queried it, after which, the court heard, Lam tried to persuade the patient to say the earlier payment was a donation. In mitigation, Gary Plowman SC said Lam's remarkable and pioneering research over four decades on peptic ulcers and gastric cancer had saved millions of lives. Plowman said Lam had not acted out of personal gain but had spent the money on matters such as entertaining guests and potential donors, transport expenses and meals to establish the university's network, which Lam believed 'a modern academic in a high administrative position needed to have'. Unable to claim official reimbursement, Lam had 'bent the rules to create financial resources and flexibility for himself'. The court heard that Lam had made full restitution to both the university and the Hospital Authority under a long-standing practice by which a quarter of the income earned by faculty staff from private practice is allocated to the authority and the rest to the university. The court received 22 letters from senior counsel, doctors and patients - and one from former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, for whom Lam was personal physician - that spoke highly of his character and contribution to medicine. Prosecutor Newman Wong said that between December 2003 and August 2006 Lam performed endoscopic procedures on private patients who were asked to pay the fees to Gastrointestinal Research's bank account. The patients received demand notes and receipts with the university's and hospital's letterheads. In the summer of 2006, patient Kwok Shek-hoi received a hospital bill for HK$250 for a procedure performed by Lam in July 2006 and he told the hospital he had already paid HK$9,500. A memo was sent to university vice-chancellor Professor Tsui Lap-chee on October 26, after the director of the finance office said he could not trace any receipt. An e-mail seeking an explanation was also sent to Lam. In December, Lam told Kwok that he wanted the medical fee to be a donation to the university and offered to give the patient HK$10,000 in cash so that he could write a cheque as a donation. He also asked Kwok to sign a letter saying he had not received an invoice from the hospital or issued a cheque for HK$9,500 payable to the university, hospital or Lam, but would now like to make a donation. In a reply to the finance office in January 2007, Lam said he had often waived professional fees for private patients to develop a good relationship with the public and attract donations. He said Kwok's case was an administrative error. The prosecutor said about HK$3 million had been transferred from the Gastrointestinal Research accounts to those of Lam and his wife, Lam Chan Wing-khi. Chief judge Patrick Li Hon-leung said Lam's act in persuading Kwok to change the story to cover his lie was a serious offence. Plowman said Lam had had a distinguished career since joining the faculty as an assistant lecturer in 1967, after his internship, and had been dean from 2001 until his resignation in March 2007, 17 months before his term was up. He had earned an OBE for services to medicine and was the only person in Asia to be a Master of the American College of Gastroenterology. Patients' interests had not been affected by Lam's misconduct, Plowman said. Tung wrote that as his personal physician for more than 10 years, he regarded Lam as honest and of high integrity. He had also given valuable advice during Sars in 2003. Lam's academic achievements and contribution earned him many distinguished awards. A faculty spokeswoman said that after the scandal, the university had introduced 16 measures to plug loopholes in billing of private patients by faculty staff.