11 jailed for up to a year for vote-rigging

The District Court on Friday sentenced 11 people to jail for up to one year for vote-rigging in the IT sector race of the 2016 Legco election.

Four of the defendants were executives or staff of the Taxi Drivers & Operators Association, including then corporate affairs director, Li Wai-man, who was slapped with a one-year term.

He and the association’s executive committee member Lui Ah-fook had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in corrupt conduct at an election by offering money to people to register as IT sector voters and vote for a certain candidate.

Li also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, as did the taxi body’s then vice-secretary Yeung Yiu-hung and clerk Poon Sau-fong.

The other defendants were Liu’s relatives and friends of the family. They had pleaded guilty or were convicted of accepting advantages.

Apart from Li, the other defendants were sentenced to between six weeks and eight months in jail.