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Niall Fraser

A former apprentice jockey was jailed for six months yesterday for taking up to $200,000 from a fellow rider to fix races.

 Keith Kwok Ting, 24, admitted taking bribes from then fellow apprentice Stanley Chin Kin-ming, also 24. He was ordered to reimburse the Jockey Club.

 Two other riders, senior jockey Ricky Choi Chun-wai, 27, and apprentice James Chan Ka-chun, 22, were yesterday charged with conspiring to cheat, but entered no plea and were remanded in ICAC custody until December 23. Senior jockey Chin is still under investigation.

 Kwok admitted accepting about $100,000 to fix a race on March 30, 1996 and between $80,000 and $100,000 to rig another, some time between April 1 and December 31 the same year.

 Both payments were in return for ensuring his horse did not finish in first, second or third place, Eastern Court heard. Kwok was approached by Chin the day before the March 30 race, the court was told. His horse, Fit For Royalty, finished fourth.

 He told investigators he could not remember the name of the horse he was riding or the date or number of the second race.

 Choi and Chan, who appeared in court with a stick due to a long-term injury, were charged with conspiring with Chin on March 29, 1996 to win money for unknown persons by placing bets on the March 30 race.

 The charges said they 'dishonestly influenced the outcome of the race' by preventing their horses, Win Tack and Fashion Delux respectively, from running to the best of their ability.

 Choi was also accused of 'manoeuvring his horse to obstruct other horses in the race'.

 Last night, sources said prosecutors considered Kwok's sentence too low and were considering an appeal.

 The four were among 13 people arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday in an investigation into an alleged $2 million race-fixing racket.

 Seven other jockeys and one civilians detained were released on bail last night. Chin and his girlfriend, the 13th person arrested, were trying to raise bail money.

 Magistrate Tong Man said Kwok had tarnished the hard-earned international reputation of Hong Kong horse racing.

 'Horse racing is a vital part of Hong Kong life and has worked hard to establish a good international reputation. It is a symbol of Hong Kong's prosperity,' he said. He took into account Kwok's guilty plea, the fact it was his first offence and his promise to help the ICAC.

 For Kwok, barrister Paul Tse Wai-chun told the court his client had been under 'huge psychological pressure' since anti-graft officers staged raids last year but 'couldn't pluck up the courage' to turn himself in.

 He said the 'puritanical' lifestyle apprentice jockeys followed and their roughly $3,000-a-month pay, half of which went to the Jockey Club, opened them to the temptations of bribery.

 'They are not allowed to have a mobile telephone or pager and they can't go out to karaoke or a bar. This puritanical lifestyle makes them particularly amenable to outside inducements,' said Mr Tse.

 He said that Kwok, whose dream of becoming a jockey was now in tatters, suffered two lengthy spells of injury and had run up between $20,000 and $30,000 in credit-card debts.

 He was willing to help the Jockey Club security department and the ICAC.



Former apprentice took up to $200,000 to finish outside first three