The ICAC arrested six Urban Services Department hawker-control officers yesterday for alleged involvement in a scheme to provide a scapegoat to go to court for an obstruction offence. The ICAC officers said a fruit stall operator was arrested for obstruction in Shamshuipo on June 22. He refused to go to Cheung Sha Wan police station. It was alleged the senior hawker-control officer instructed his subordinates not to arrest the offender and allowed him to find a scapegoat to stand in for him. The substitute went to the police station, but the case was dropped, the ICAC said. The Urban Services Department reported the matter to the police, who called in the ICAC. Last month, hawker Tse Lin-soong, 61, was sentenced to six months' jail at Eastern Court for asking a friend to stand trial for her. The sentence was imposed by Magistrate Colin Mackintosh after she pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. Tse was released on $5,000 bail pending an appeal.
