A former subordinate of Stephen Chan Chi-wan told a court the top TVB executive, on trial for fraud and corruption, could receive payment for outside jobs only with the company's prior consent.
Ho Lai-chuen, a former TVB production controller, was testifying in the District Court against Chan, 51, who is accused of conspiring with his former personal assistant and co- defendant Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun, 28, to receive, without the station's knowledge, HK$112,000 for his performance at a New Year countdown show.
Ho agreed with the suggestion of Chan's lawyers that the TVB general manager hosted a talk show, Be My Guest, in which he interviewed TVB's best-actor-award winner Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, at the 2009 New Year's Eve countdown as a 'guest' invited by the event's sponsor, the Olympian City 2 shopping mall.
Ho, who oversaw production for the event, said Chan could receive and 'deserved' what he called 'show fees' for his front-stage performance at the countdown - if he had obtained the company's approval.
But for that event, Ho said, TVB would not pay Chan because a budget document showed that Chan and Lai would work 'free of charge'.
'The company's regulation is that management staff can get show fees for their front-stage performance. But the amount is very little; it's like a traffic allowance,' Ho said.