Chan Yun-to, a bodybuilder who won a gold medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, will appear in court on Thursday accused of bribing an official to ease a suspension so that he could compete in those Games.
The ICAC laid three additional charges yesterday against Simon Chan Siu-man, chairman of Hong Kong China Bodybuilding and Fitness Association. He already faces one count of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage and one count of fraud, laid in August.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said yesterday the two Chans conspired in 2006 with the secretary general of the Asian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, Paul Chua, and a coach of the Hong Kong association for Chua to accept US$10,000 from the athlete. In return, Chua would shorten or lift the suspension period and enable him to participate in the Doha Games.
One of the new charges against Simon Chan says he conspired with another bodybuilder, who was not named, together with Chua and a coach of the Hong Kong association between January 2006 and May 2009 for Chua to accept between about HK$100,000 and HK$200,000.
The ICAC said Chan Yun-to and the unnamed athlete had failed doping tests in October 2005 after competing in a bodybuilding championship in South Korea, for which Chan Yun-to had been banned from any bodybuilding competition for two years, and the unnamed athlete banned for life.
The other new charge Simon Chan faces alleges that between April 2008 and May this year he conspired with the unnamed athlete to defraud the Hong Kong Sports Institute by falsely representing that he was a full-time athlete and was a part-time personal trainer. The institute was induced to approve an elite training grant to the athlete for HK$600,000 due to the false representation.