A pregnant former official of the US Consulate-General in Hong Kong who swindled more than $1 million out of the consulate was jailed for two years yesterday.
District Court judge Fergal Sweeney said he would not allow a defendant to escape a custodial sentence for such serious offences because she was pregnant.
Five months pregnant Peggy Chung Sau-chun, 35, former procurement supervisor, had pleaded guilty to 18 counts of forgery on May 12.
Her defence counsel, Raymond Yu, repeatedly asked for the court's leniency in his mitigation.
'Please, in view of the whole circumstances, please consider giving her a final chance. She will treasure it for the rest of her life. You may never see her again in the future,' Mr Yu said.
But Judge Sweeney wondered why the defendant, who was charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in November last year, had been childless in her 11 years of marriage but chose to become pregnant 'when she knew she was going to face a trial', and with a husband who later left her.
The court heard her husband had borrowed from loansharks in Macau and since August 1996, Chung had made false invoices, cashing them in from the consulate to repay his loan. Chung claimed $1,112,316 from the consulate and the money was deposited into her husband's bank account.