Eastern Court Magistrate William Lam Kui-po found Lau Pui-fai, a Fuji Xerox sales manager, guilty of one count of obtaining services by deception and ordered him to pay the fine by March 13. Mr Lam factored in bail of HK$20,000 that Lau had previously paid, meaning he must pay the balance of HK$40,000.

Mr Lam said Lau's offence was like breaking into a house and using items that were not rightfully his.

He said Lau knew statements in the application were false and that the application was a false document.

The membership card Lau subsequently received was therefore also a false instrument.

The Jockey Club received Lau's application for racing membership on June 24, 2006. The court was told it included false statements, which appeared to be from two voting members, on how they met him.

According to one statement, voting member D.P. Inglis had known Lau for three years, having met him through a colleague at Hutchison who was also a Jockey Club member.

According to another, Cheng Chung-shu had known Lau for two years since meeting him at a dinner party hosted by another member.

In fact, Mr Inglis met Lau the same month Lau filed his application, and only briefly, while Mr Cheng had never met him, the court heard.

The Jockey Club approved Lau's application in October 2006 and after he received his membership card he used it many times to use club facilities, the court heard.

The Jockey Club spokesman would not say whether the club would penalise the voting members nor whether the members had furnished Lau with the false statements.

Jockey Club membership manager Ng Ting-hoi told the court on Wednesday that the club had not penalised the members or revoked Lau's membership.

David Ma, representing Lau, had earlier argued that the false information that appeared to be from the voting members was provided by a third party and not Lau. Therefore, Lau had no responsibility to verify it.

Mr Lam replied that the form called for applicants to verify both the information they authored and 'to ensure that details given are true', thereby obliging Lau to do both.

In requesting leniency, Mr Ma said Lau was of good character and was a good family man.

The club spokesman said the club respected the court's decision. It would discuss the matter and make a decision on Lau's membership.

All applications for club membership would continue to undergo stringent review, he said.