The Securities and Futures Commission's senior director of enforcement, Eric Cheng Kai-sum, and his wife were cleared of fraud charges yesterday after a judge ruled they did not have dishonest intent to defraud the government of HK$1.3 million in housing allowance.
Cheng and his wife, Irene Tsoi Chi-yi, a tax assessor at the Inland Revenue Department, had been charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption with having fraudulently claimed a private tenancy allowance between 1990 and 1996.
District Court Deputy Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng acquitted the pair on four counts of furnishing false information on the basis that they had relied upon an accountant's professional advice.
The judge also stressed that he did not find the accountant involved in any criminal collusion with his clients.
Represented by Adrian Huggins SC, the couple denied the charges in January.
Prosecutors had accused them of having deceived the government into paying the allowance to rent two properties in which Cheng had financial interests, violating civil service regulations.