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Thirteen parents and a middleman have been jailed for up to one year and two months for offering HK$1.1 million in bribes to secure admission to an English Schools Foundation (ESF) kindergarten.
West Kowloon Law Courts Building. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The defendants, aged between 36 and 48, were sentenced at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Tuesday. They were found guilty in February of bribing an administrator at ESF Wu Kai Sha International Kindergarten in Ma On Shan.
The bribes, ranging from HK$20,000 to HK$200,000, were aimed at securing entry for 12 children who had passed the K1 admission process for the school years 2019 to 2022, but were placed at the bottom of the waiting list.
Former administrator Fatima Rumjahn, who handled applications at the school between September 2018 and August 2021, pleaded guilty in October 2024 and testified against the 14 defendants. She will be sentenced next month.
ESF Wu Kai Sha International Kindergarten. Photo: ESF.According to a press release from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which investigated the case, Deputy District Judge Amy Chan said on Tuesday that it was understandable that the defendants wanted to help their children “get off to a flying start,” but that they still had to obey the law.
Their bribes affected the fairness of the school’s admission process, Chan added.
Among the 13 parents were two couples: Lam Man-hei and her husband Cheung Ka-ming, and Marissa Choy and her partner Lee Chun-long. The other nine were mothers: Julia Wong, Vida Lau, Ma Yin-man, Li Jiebing, Tsui Wai-him, Kong Ching-men, Michelle Wong, Mak Wai-ki and Zhu Shuangye.
They were jailed for between eight and 11 months.
The 14th defendant, Siu Yu-pong, acted as a middleman to help his business partner’s daughter secure admission to the kindergarten. He received the longest sentence of 14 months, as the judge said he may have made business gains out of it.
The case stemmed from an ICAC investigation prompted by a corruption complaint.
The first arrests were made in June 2022, according to the ICAC.
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