Hong Kong marine official who flouted life jacket rules jailed 16 months
Judge says defendant’s misconduct eroded public trust in the marine authority ‘if not the entire civil service’
A senior official who ordered Marine Department staff to ignore a law on the number of life jackets that vessels must carry in the months and years prior to the deadly 2012 Lamma ferry disaster has been jailed for 16 months.
The punishment meted out to So Ping-chi for misconduct in public office is thought to be one of the few times a city civil servant has been given a custodial sentence for failing to carry out their duties while in the job.
The 59-year-old principal surveyor of ships – who held the position from April 2007 to March 2013 – was told by District Court judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong that the serious nature of the offence warranted immediate imprisonment because he made a “deliberate decision to supplant the will of the legislature with his own”.
The judge said a “non-enforcement instruction” had been issued by So to please the shipping industry.
“The defendant decided to issue the non-enforcement instruction, and must therefore suffer the consequences,” Yau said on Tuesday. The fact that similar instructions were issued by his predecessors did not mitigate his offence, the judge added.
On top of safety concerns, Yau said the case would shock the public and tarnish the hard-earned reputation of civil servants for integrity and efficiency.
“I find the defendant’s misconduct must have eroded the public’s trust placed in the Marine Department, if not the entire civil service,” he said. “The damage done by the defendant is serious and far-reaching.”
