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Former lawmaker cleared of poll bribe charge over free seminar

Adrian Wan

Former lawmaker Mandy Tam Heung-man has been cleared of electoral bribery.

A magistrate said yesterday he believed a free continuing education seminar Tam gave two days before polling day in the 2008 Legislative Council elections was not intended to canvass support, and that anyone who voted for her after attending did not do so just because they had received free advice.

Tam said as she left Eastern Court: 'I am pleased with the verdict. It cleared my name. I would like to thank all the people in Hong Kong who gave me support and my legal advisers, who have been so helpful in the past six months.'

The Independent Commission Against Corruption charged the 53-year-old tax adviser with electoral bribery in October, after receiving a complaint from the campaign team of her victorious rival for the accountancy sector seat, Paul Chan Mo-po.

But magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan said it was common for lawmakers in the accountancy sector to hold such continuing education seminars every month.

Tam's lawyers - the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming SC, and his son, Joseph Lee Jo-ey - argued in court last month that the election ordinance's definition of the word 'advantage' was too extensive.

The loose interpretation would undermine people's right to elect and to be elected as enshrined under the Basic Law, Martin Lee argued.

Yesterday, the magistrate said he did not agree that the definition was fuzzy.But Lam said he saw nothing wrong in Tam holding the seminar because 'it is very reasonable that politicians have to provide services to society'.

He did not believe those who went to the talk would vote for her just because they had received points towards their compulsory continuing professional development.

'I once received a packet of tissues, on which an election candidate's face was printed. Would those who received the tissue vote for the candidate just because they had received it?' Lam said. 'To think they would is an insult to Hong Kong people's political intelligence.'

Lam said Tam's decision to invite former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang to talk about politics did sow suspicion, but might have been intended to attract more people to the seminar on due diligence.

'The court does not think the defendant held the seminar just to canvass support for her candidacy,' he concluded.

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