A district board member convicted yesterday of being behind a poll fraud pleaded with the court not to jail him.
Lam Cheuk-bun, 41, a merchant who represents Fortress Hill on the Eastern District Board, was convicted of persuading four people to vote in the 1994 polls, knowing they were registered under a false address. He denied the charges.
'My client must have considered the punishment awaiting him when he committed the offences,' said Lam's lawyer, Walter Lau. 'In 1994, the normal penalty for this would be a fine or a suspended jail sentence.' He argued tough sentencing guidelines introduced last November for violating voting laws should not apply in Lam's case.
Lam was charged before the Court of Appeal decision was made, Mr Lau told District Court Judge Barnabas Fung Wah.
Prosecutor Peter Ip said four of Lam's staff at the management office in Carson Mansion, Fortress Hill - where Lam was chairman of the tenants' committee - registered as voters under their work address.
Mr Lau said Lam thought it was legal to register using correspondence addresses and had tried to check this was the case.