Hong Kong court upholds innocent ruling for sacked primary school principal who submitted fake records to Education Bureau

Tuen Mun Court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Chan Cheung-ping’s intentions when she submitted the false job interview records for a staff member

The court saw neither evidence that Chan created the form, nor proof that the form was fabricated in response to the authority’s investigation

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Former Hing Tak School principal Chan Cheung-ping, 46, leaving Tuen Mun Court in July. Photo: Jasmine Siu

Published: 5:14pm, 24 Oct 2019Updated: 5:14pm, 24 Oct 2019

A Hong Kong court has upheld the acquittal of a former primary school principal accused of trying to deceive the education authority with false staff records two years ago.

On Thursday, Tuen Mun Court Magistrate Kelly Shui declined prosecutors’ application to overturn a July 2 verdict in which they failed to prove Chan Cheung-ping’s intentions when she submitted a false job interview record for Cheung Kam-fai.

Prosecutors alleged that Chan, 46, then principal of Hing Tak School in Tuen Mun, gave the form to chief school development officer, Brian Cheng Kwok-yan, on May 27, 2017, to induce him into accepting it as genuine and subsequently act to his own or another’s disadvantage.

Cheng was investigating a potential breach of the Education Ordinance by Cheung, 43, for remaining at the school without permission even though his teacher registration was cancelled on February 15 that year.

The school supervisor had told Cheng that Cheung was hired as an assistant clerical officer on July 19, 2016, and as an executive officer on March 20, 2017. Chan later provided Cheng with Cheung’s interview record for the clerical officer role, dated July 16, 2016 – just three days before his alleged employment start date.