A well-respected pianist and producer of RTHK classical music programmes was jailed for 16 months yesterday for cheating his employer out of almost $250,000.
George Mak Che-kin, 37, admitted five counts of false accounting committed over a two-year period while working as programme officer for classical music channel Radio Four on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).
Twenty-five testimonials on Mak's behalf - including letters from Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping, Hong Kong Sinfonietta conductor Yip Wing-sie and disc jockey 'Uncle' Ray Cordeiro - were presented to the court before sentencing.
District Court Judge Maggie Poon Man-kay heard Mak, who had been brought up in a 'family of achievers', played piano before former governor Sir Murray MacLehose in 1971 when he was six years old.
Prosecutor Ian McWalters said Mak was given responsibility for recruiting freelance workers in 1998 to help establish a new station computer system.
On various occasions between early 1999 and December 2000, Mak had overstated the hours of 10 freelancers, he said, who consequently received excess payments. Mak then told them they had been overpaid and pocketed the money that they returned.
Mak had also registered Candy Mok Tin-yan - a close friend of Mak's wife Anita So Wing-kum - as a freelance worker and falsified working records for her. Ms Mok never worked for RTHK, the court was told.