‘Tutor king’ Weslie Siao gets 14 months in jail for orchestrating online leak of university entrance exam questions
- Two teachers who fed Siao the confidential materials were also given prison sentences of eight and five months, though the latter was suspended
- ‘This trend of leaking public exam materials must be stopped’, magistrate says in delivering judgment
Tuen Mun Court ruled that Weslie Siao Chi-yung had dealt a blow to the integrity of the city’s examination system by instructing two teachers to give him confidential materials about the 2016 and 2017 university entrance tests while they served as examiners for the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
The two teachers, Cheung Kwok-kuen and Ng Wang-leung, Siao’s former classmates at Shue Yan University, were respectively jailed for eight months and five months, but Ng’s jail term was suspended for two years.
Magistrate Kelly Shui blasted the tutor for establishing his reputation as a “tutor king” at the expense of his friends, adding that deterrent sentences were necessary to reflect the gravity of the offence.
“This trend of leaking public exam materials must be stopped,” the magistrate said.
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Siao, 44, was convicted earlier this month of two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Cheung and Ng, both 45, were each convicted of a single count of the same charge.
The trial heard that Siao asked Cheung, who taught at Buddhist Sum Heung Lam Memorial College, to send him questions used in the 2016 Chinese-language oral section of the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam. The former tutor at the Modern Education tutorial centre then posted them on his Facebook page before the exam period had ended.
The next year, Siao asked Ng, of Wah Yan College, to send him internal assessment authority notes on the marking scheme for the same exam. He then used the materials to create a video walk-through of the tests, which he posted on his YouTube channel.
Siao’s lawyer, David Ma Wai-kwan, said the tutor had used the materials as an advertising gimmick and had no intention to undermine the integrity of the city’s exam regime.
“His motive was not to help his students cheat [in the exams] … The impact of his offences was outside his expectations,” Ma said.
You got in a muddle because of your reputation. In order to attract students and boost your business, you have brought your friends into disrepute
But the magistrate rejected the submission, saying Siao’s acts had led to perceived unfairness and tarnished public confidence in the tests.
“You got in a muddle because of your reputation. In order to attract students and boost your business, you have brought your friends into disrepute,” Shui told the tutor.
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The magistrate also found Cheung’s claim that he had sacrificed his 19-year teaching career over the leak without receiving a benefit from Siao to be unbelievable, especially when he could have lawfully given Siao the exam questions after the exam period.
However, she accepted that Ng had mistakenly offered Siao the marking scheme out of friendship, and spared him imprisonment provided he stays out of trouble.
Siao and Cheung have been denied bail pending their appeals at the High Court.
The magistrate also dismissed an application for legal costs by Siao’s wife, Tsai Ying-ying, who was acquitted of leaking exam questions to her husband in the same case.
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