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SCMP Reporter

An ex-policeman who tried to bribe apprentice jockeys in an attempt to fix races was yesterday jailed for 3.5 years.

 Judge Peter Longley told Ng Siu-chau that had his plan succeeded, many people would have been defrauded and the integrity of the Hong Kong Jockey Club would have been undermined.

 Ng, 33, was found guilty of seven charges of offering an advantage to apprentice jockeys Chung Chim-ki, Simon Yim Hin-keung, Alex Yu Kin-shing and Vickie Choi Chun-wai for them to pull horses in races. He had denied all the charges.

 Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions William Lam Kui-po had told the District Court how Ng intended to spend $1 million on the scam. Some was to go to bribing the jockeys and some on bets, with the jockeys promised a share of the winnings.

 He targeted three races in 1996 - the 505 at Sha Tin on May 19, the 519 at Happy Valley on May 29 and the 527 at Sha Tin on June 1.

 Judge Longley said he believed the jockeys' evidence that they had been offered bribes. Discrepancies in their evidence were not significant, he said. The judge was satisfied the offers were not made in jest, as Ng had claimed.

 Sentencing Ng, Judge Longley said offering advantages was serious.

 'The gravity of the offences lie not only in the amount of money you stood to gain but the many thousands of people who would have been defrauded if your scheme had gone ahead,' he said.

 'The sort of money you are talking about is likely to be a great temptation to young apprentice jockeys.

 'The activities could easily, if allowed to go unchecked, have destroyed the integrity of horse racing in Hong Kong.'  He adopted a starting point of four years and deducted six months for Ng's previous good character.

 Defence barrister Graeme Hagon said Ng maintained he was not guilty. He said Ng, a father of three young children, was the breadwinner of his family.

 Ng, who left the police force in 1989, was also found guilty of failing to provide ICAC officers with details of his bank account and was fined $5,000. He had denied the charge. Judge Longley commended the ICAC officers involved in the case, particularly senior investigator Patrick Ho Chi-ho and investigator Mak Wai-keung.



Ex-officer jailed for racing scam