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Lo Hoi-ying

A retired Hong Kong police chief inspector has been acquitted of fraudulently obtaining nearly HK$46,000 (US$5,865) in overtime wages during the 2019 anti-government protests.
Sha Tin Court on Tuesday cleared Kelvin Ip Chun-wing, 58, of misconduct in public office and on seven counts of using documents with intent to deceive.
Ip, whose friends and family were in court to support him, broke out into a bright smile when he heard the magistrate’s verdict.
“Long live righteousness,” Ip said later when greeting the press.
Ip was arrested in May last year on misconduct and corruption charges.
He was accused of falsely claiming that he was entitled to overtime pay and a disciplined services overtime allowance for taking part in Operation Tiderider at Sha Tin Police Station between August 7 and 23, 2019.
Tiderider was the code name for the force’s response to the unrest that broke out in June that year over a now-shelved extradition bill.
Magistrate Andrew Mok Tze-chung found that the prosecution was unable to prove Ip was not entitled to claim the 49 hours of overtime work as part of his duties during Tiderider.
Mok noted that while Ip might have mistakenly claimed his overtime hours were related to Operation Tiderider, he was still entitled to compensation for those hours.
“There is no evidence that the defendant did not go back to the police station on these occasions as the prosecution conceded,” Mok said.
“There is also no evidence that the defendant did not do overtime work that could not be deferred or be performed by another officer.”
He also said the statements of the two prosecution witnesses – police officers involved in submitting claims for Ip’s overtime hours – were not honest and reliable.
The magistrate noted that Ma Sing-yuen, then district commander and Ip’s supervisor, was hesitant while answering questions during cross-examination and made illogical claims, including that he had approved the defendant’s allegedly fraudulent claims to leave a paper trail of his misconduct.
The then 30,000-strong force received nearly HK$1 billion in overtime wages in the first six months of the social unrest in 2019, including HK$235 million in meal and other allowances, according to Security Bureau statistics.


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Kelvin Ip (centre) with his lawyer David Khosa (left) on Tuesday after the trial. Photo: Lo Hoi-ying

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News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Court acquits retired chief inspector Kelvin Ip, 58, on misconduct and corruption charges


Court acquits retired chief inspector Kelvin Ip, 58, on misconduct and corruption charges.
