District councillor denies fraud over salary claims

A filmmaker turned district councillor was accused of fraud for failing to comply with guidelines about the government's reimbursement of wages for his assistant, a court heard yesterday.

Lo Sou-chour, 59, was to have paid his assistant, Cheng King-fung, upfront before submitting a salary claim form to the Tai Po District Council secretariat, Fanling Court heard.

Instead, for the 17 months that Cheng served in the post, Lo asked him to fill in and sign the form at the end of each month, and then usually paid him a few days later, the assistant said.

"He always paid me with a cheque before the seventh day of the coming month," Cheng, who worked with Lo until 2009, recalled in court.

Not once was he ever paid before filling out the form, which he would leave on Lo's desk or hand it to him in person, he said.

Yesterday, Lo denied four counts of fraud. Prosecutors say he gave the secretariat false impressions - namely, that he had paid three full-time assistants, Cheng, Tong Chun-yu and Hui Cheuk-kit, and a part-time assistant, Cheung Yuet-wah, in full before submitting the claim forms. None now works for him.