Former TVB manager Stephen Chan Chi-Wan and his assistant Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun were fined HK$84,000 and HK$28,000 respectively by the High Court on Friday afternoon. The pair had earlier been found guilty of bribery.
The Court of Appeal had found Chan and his assistant guilty of conspiracy to accept an advantage as an agent in October, after a successful second appeal by the Department of Justice. Earlier this month, the appeal court rejected Chan’s request for the suspension of execution of a court judgment. It was remitted to District Court Judge Poon Siu-tung, who convicted the pair on Friday, acting upon directions from the Appeal Court.
The prosecution cited s33A of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance on Friday morning and asked the court to prohibit Chan from being employed as a director or manager of a public body for seven years. It also asked the court to order Chan to return HK$112,000 to TVB.
However, the court said that the crime in this instance was not serious. He said he did not understand why the prosecution would make such an application, as they had agreed that the defendants had not been dishonest.
The judge said the case was different from most graft cases as there were no elements of graft present – instead, there were special circumstances surrounding the case. As there was no dishonesty or intent to deliberately conceal, it was merely a crime on a technicality. Therefore, there was no need to impose a jail sentence, RTHK reported.
The pair were charged after receiving HK$112,000 for a 2009 event at the Olympian City shopping mall in Tai Kok Tsui—a payment which Chan failed to disclose to his then employer, TVB.
