Celebrity Chinese language tutor Weslie Siao charged with leaking Hong Kong exam questions

A celebrity tutor, his wife and two former examiners will appear in court accused of leaking questions on public university entrance tests.

Weslie Siao Chi-yung, 42, a famous Chinese language instructor from tutorial school Modern Education, was charged along with his wife, Tsai Ying-ying, 33, also a Chinese language tutor at the school and a former invigilator with the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

The other two defendants were Cheung Kwok-kuen, 43, and Ng Wang-leung, 43, both former oral examiners with the authority, according to a spokesman from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which initiated the prosecution.

The ICAC alleged that Siao received confidential questions from the 2016 and 2017 Chinese language examinations as phone messages from Cheung and Tsai, as well as getting confidential information about a briefing session on the 2017 exam from Ng.

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Tsai had been working as an invigilator for the 2017 Chinese language test for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) exams. Cheung and Ng worked for the authority as oral examiners for the 2016 and 2017 Chinese language examinations respectively.

Siao and Cheung face a joint charge of conspiracy to obtain access to a computer with dishonest intent in March 2016. Siao and Ng jointly face a similar charge, dated to March 2017. Siao and Tsai face a joint charge of obtaining access to a computer with dishonest intent in April 2017. They will all appear at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court for plea on Wednesday, and were on bail until then.

An ICAC spokesman said the case arose from a complaint from the authority.

A spokeswoman for the authority said it would not comment on the case, because of ongoing legal proceedings. She said the authority had tightly controlled processes of designing, reviewing, printing, packing, and distributing exam papers, to ensure the confidentiality of questions.