A judge was asked yesterday not to please the media or legislators when sentencing three offenders involved in a piling scam at a Tung Chung site. Lawyer Anthony Kwan, defending one of the accused, Yu Chun-man, said: 'If not for the extensive attention attracted by this problem of short piles, Your Honour could easily deal with the defendants. 'I worry that Your Honour might have the tendency, I hope not, to please the media or to please the legislators [when deciding the sentence].' District Court judge Richard Davies interrupted Mr Kwan, saying: 'I have never done that before and I am not going to start now - six months before my retirement. What you have said so far has done nothing but irritate me.' Yu, a 29-year-old engineer, pleaded guilty on March 22 to conspiracy to defraud the Buildings Department and the developer of the Tung Chung Station project. Two co-defendants Li Che-hing, 51, and Ko Chi-kwong, 43, project manager and site agent respectively, were found guilty of the same charge on June 2. Yu had given evidence against Li and Ko during the trial. Graham Harris, for Ko, said his defendant was not the main culprit in the scam, while those who received financial gain in the operation may well have escaped. 'My client, save for keeping his job, did not make one cent out of this enterprise.' The court heard earlier the trio, who were employed by main contractor I-P Foundations Ltd, had from July 1997 to April 1998 conspired with others to falsely represent that bored piles at the Tung Chung Station development site were constructed to the required length. Of the 76 piles under four residential buildings, 66 were shorter than required. The project was a joint venture by Tung Chung Station Development Co Ltd and a consortium to build seven residential blocks. The scam came to light when cracks were found in some core samples retrieved by the supervising engineering company after the foundations were completed in January last year, the court heard. Judge Davies adjourned sentencing until Tuesday.
