Former aide to head of Hong Kong’s largest pro-Beijing party convicted of bribing in 2018 Legco by-election
- Ex-assistant and accomplice found to have offered ‘lucky bags’ to residents to induce them to vote for Vincent Cheng
- Other co-defendants accused of taking bribes are acquitted after judge notes their acceptance may have been ‘perfunctory’
A West Kowloon Court magistrate ruled on Thursday that defendant Wong Wai-ha had offered “lucky bags” to residents of a public housing estate in Sham Shui Po in an attempt to induce them to vote for candidate Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, who was representing the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) in a March 11, 2018 poll.
Wong, who was an assistant of DAB chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king at the time of the offence, was convicted along with her co-defendant, housewife Deng Yimei, of conspiring to offer an advantage to others at an election.
Two other defendants accused of receiving bribes to vote for Cheng in the Kowloon West race were acquitted after the presiding magistrate found there was no evidence indicating what the gifts were, and allowed the pair’s acceptance of the offer might have been “perfunctory”.
Wong and Deng, aged 54 and 44 respectively, were volunteers for a residents’ group at the Hoi Lai Estate, where the bribery occurred. The two acquitted defendants, Chan Wai-kuen and Li Mau, both 52, were residents of the estate.
The trial in November last year heard that between February 28 and March 5, 2018, Deng sent WhatsApp messages to at least seven residents, including Chan and Li, saying they would be given HK$100 (US$13) worth of food and household items if they voted for Cheng.
She sent more messages on election day reminding the seven to select the DAB hopeful to get the gifts. Chan and Li later replied that they had voted as instructed.
Investigators from the Independent Commission Against Corruption later found Wong had instructed Deng on March 4 to provide her with a list of residents of the estate, in which the names of Chan and Li were found, along with their voting preferences.
The chairwoman of the residents’ group at the estate testified that while the organisation had demonstrated support for DAB, it stopped giving out gifts prior to the poll and made no attempts to gather personal data from residents.
Four Sham Shui Po residents charged in ‘lucky bag’ vote-buying scheme
The defence argued Wong and Deng had merely collected the information to allow them to provide benefits to residents in the future, adding they had counted residents’ votes out of curiosity.
That submission was rejected on Thursday by deputy magistrate Peter Hui Shiu-keung, who found the duo’s telephone messages reflected their unequivocal intention to entice residents to vote for Cheng.
“[Deng] and [Wong] must have reached an agreement to offer ‘lucky bags’ to make voters vote for Vincent Cheng in the by-election on March 11, 2018,” Hui said. “Cheng represents the DAB. The two accused wanted to make sure Cheng won the election.”
But Hui declined to convict Chan and Li of accepting bribes, as the prosecution did not provide evidence as to the content of the “lucky bags”, adding the two might have reluctantly responded to Deng’s persistent appeals.
The magistrate remanded Wong and Deng in custody ahead of sentencing on May 26. The pair faces up to two years’ imprisonment.
