Paul Chan's accusations of exam cheating 'still hurt', student says
Schoolmate of minister's daughter tells defamation trial of horror at seeing emails
The defamation trial of Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and his wife yesterday heard from the young woman they allegedly falsely accused, along with her twin brother, of cheating in an exam at their daughter's school.
Caitlin Lu said emails sent out by Chan and his wife, Frieda Hui Po-ming, in December 2011 targeted her and her brother Jonathan using words like "spotted cheating", "caught cheating" and "covered up by their father", a governor at the school.
She and her twin - now 20 and studying at Stanford University in the United States - and their father, Carl Lu, are suing the minister and his wife for defamation.
Caitlin Lu told the Court of First Instance that the saga began when some girls claimed they saw Jonathan glance towards her during an economics test at the Chinese International School, North Point, in November 2011.
She said their suspicions were reported to the teacher who then talked to her and compared the twins' test papers. The teacher found no trace of cheating.
Caitlin said one of her friends was among the group of students who sparked the rumour and was the first to inform her about it, in private, in the stairwell.