Hong Kong law professor cleared in HK$720,000 university rent fraud case

Court accepts Alice Lee’s explanation that she had to spend more time away from rented flat to look after elderly relatives

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University of Hong Kong associate law professor Alice Lee leaves the District Court following her acquittal. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 6:47pm, 24 Feb 2025

A court has cleared a law professor of defrauding the University of Hong Kong out of more than HK$720,000 (US$92,307) in rent allowances after accepting she had to spend more time taking care of elderly family members away from her home.

The District Court on Monday ruled that associate law professor Alice Lee Suet-ching did not abandon her rented flat in Kowloon Tong as her permanent home despite spending more nights at her father’s house in Kau To Shan, an upscale residential area in Sha Tin, from October 2019 to October 2021.

Deputy Judge David Cheung Chi-wai also dismissed prosecutors’ contention that university staff members receiving a private tenancy allowance had to observe a so-called live-in requirement.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption charged Lee with fraud in 2023 after receiving a complaint that she had been staying with her parents elsewhere while a “personal friend” occupied the Kowloon Tong premises.

The trial revealed that the personal friend was Lee’s partner, who was identified in court by his surname Lau and described as a former deputy magistrate.

Lee began living with Lau at the Kowloon Tong flat in 2005 while the university reimbursed her for the rent, rates and management charges of the premises.