Two correctional officers denied asking a prisoner and her boyfriend for cash and expensive gifts in exchange for illicitly running messages for them, the District Court was told yesterday.
Ng Shuk-yi, 36, is accused of one count of soliciting an advantage and three counts of attempted fraud, while Lai Sau-wai, 47, faces one count of soliciting an advantage and one of accepting an advantage.
Ng was with the Correctional Services Department's (CSD) Escort and Support Group, while Lai worked at the Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution, until their arrest and suspension from duty in March 2010.
The two women are accused of seeking HK$530,000 in cash, expensive handbags, jewellery and other gifts from a jailed mainland woman, Wu Qiaomei, and her boyfriend Lu Guoxiang. In return, the officers passed messages between the two and to Wu's family.
Wu was in the Chi Ma Wan jail then, and has since been moved.
Lawyer Kenny Chan, for the prosecution, said Ng agreed to help Wu on December 21, 2009. To get around CSD rules that limit officers' communications with inmates and their relatives, Ng disguised her identity by using the alias 'Coco', and used her own elder sister's mailing address for communications with Wu.