Hong Kong tutor published on social media exam questions leaked by his wife and others, court hears
- Chinese language instructor Weslie Siao allegedly published the materials used in 2016 and 2017 Chinese exams on a Facebook page
- Siao’s wife Tsai Ying-ying and schoolteachers Cheung Kwok-kuen and Ng Wang-leung purportedly leaked the information to him using their public office
A Hong Kong tutor published on social media public examination questions and assessment criteria leaked by his wife and two others to promote his tutorial classes, a court heard on Wednesday.
Chinese language instructor Weslie Siao Chi-yung, 42, was being tried at Tuen Mun Court alongside three co-defendants, for allegedly publishing the confidential materials used in the Chinese exams of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education in 2016 and 2017 on a Facebook page he used to advertise his brand, before the examinations commenced.
Siao’s wife Tsai Ying-ying, 33, and schoolteachers Cheung Kwok-kuen and Ng Wang-leung, both 43, were also present in court. All of them purportedly revealed the information to Siao taking advantage of their nomination to work for the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
Cheung and Ng were Siao’s classmates at Shue Yan University.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) alleged that Siao – a former employee at tutorial centre Modern Education – made Cheung and Ng send him exam materials via messaging app WhatsApp.
The anti-corruption body accused Tsai, also a Chinese language tutor at Modern Education, of leaking exam questions to her husband via WhatsApp.
On their first court appearance on June 6 last year, the four defendants faced charges relating to the offence of “obtaining access to a computer for criminal or dishonest gain”.
Court puts exam leak case against tutor Kris Lau on hold amid legal uncertainty over smartphone charge
Prosecutors later abandoned the use of the catch-all phrase in smartphone-related crimes, bringing new charges of committing misconduct in public office, after the city’s top court unanimously ruled on April 4 that the initial charge should not apply to a defendant’s own phone or computer, which were used in this case.
Siao applied to terminate his trial, alleging prosecutors of abusing the legal process by swapping charges, but West Kowloon Court turned down his plea on October 15.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Bernard Chung Wai-keung told Magistrate Kelly Shui the offences were committed between March 11, 2016, and April 5, 2017. During the period, Tsai served as an invigilator for the 2017 Chinese reading and writing exams, while Cheung and Ng worked as oral examiners for the 2016 and 2017 Chinese exams respectively.
Cheung, who taught at Buddhist Sum Heung Lam Memorial College, allegedly revealed the questions in the 2016 Chinese oral exams to Siao in eight WhatsApp messages between March 11 and 21, 2016. He and Siao faced one joint count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
Exam leak case against tutor Weslie Siao on hold over legal uncertainty
Siao and Ng faced another joint count of the same, as Siao allegedly requested Ng, of Wah Yan College, to send him internal notes of the assessment authority on March 4, 2017, which enabled him to post a video about exam strategies on Facebook before the exams that year.
Tsai faced another count of similar nature, but without any element of conspiracy, for allegedly sending questions in the Chinese writing exam to Siao while she was invigilating the exam on April 5, 2017.
The court heard the ICAC arrested Tsai immediately once the writing exam was over, which was followed by the arrest of her husband the same day. Cheung and Ng were subsequently apprehended on May 11 and 12 that year respectively as further investigation confirmed their involvement.
Chung said the two schoolteachers had admitted under caution that they had leaked the examination materials to Siao using their smartphones, but Cheung’s lawyer Amanda Li Wing-man argued her client was coerced into making the confession.
The trial is expected to last nine days.
