Hong Kong civil servant sentenced to 140 hours of community service for using fake Covid-19 risk-exposure app
- Magistrate rejects immigration assistant Wong Tsz-hin’s claim that he unknowingly used the wrong software
- Defendant, 30, was among five people, including three government workers, arrested last November for similar infractions
A Hong Kong civil servant has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service for trying to enter his workplace with a fake Covid-19 risk-exposure app on the first day the administration required mandatory scanning more than a year ago.
Immigration assistant Wong Tsz-hin returned to Eastern Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for trespassing as a magistrate rejected his defence that he had unknowingly used the wrong software he thought was the government’s “Leave Home Safe” app.
The 30-year-old defendant was among five people, including three government workers, arrested on November 1 last year on suspicion of seeking access to Wan Chai’s Immigration Tower with an imitation app or failing to use one altogether.
Launched in late 2020, the “Leave Home Safe” app required users to scan a QR code when entering a venue and sent notifications if they were found to have potentially been exposed to a Covid-19 patient who visited the location.
Widespread privacy concerns have led the government to repeatedly stress that the app did not have a tracking function. The platform ceased operations in January this year.
The trial earlier this year heard that Wong had shown the wrong app to security staff when he was asked to prove that he had logged his presence before entering the tower.
It soon became clear that Wong did not scan the tower’s QR code but had typed the venue’s name in the “Back Home Safe” imitation app.
The immigration assistant later told police he was unaware he had used the wrong software.
His lawyers told the trial earlier this year that he had been using the fake app for over a year before the incident, which gave him the misconception that he was not required to use the real one at work.
But Magistrate Gary Lam Tsz-kan dismissed that line of reasoning and noted that the requirement to use the official app had been widely publicised before the first day of its launch.
Lam also pointed out that Wong could not have failed to notice the distinction between the two apps, with the fake one allowing users to fabricate an address and remove records.
The magistrate said the court could not give any weight to the defendant’s exculpatory remarks because he was not cross-examined during the trial.
Pre-sentencing assessment advised the court to sentence Wong to unpaid community work for no more than 160 hours.
In Wednesday’s mitigation, the defence highlighted Wong’s “outstanding” work performance and past contribution to society in arguing the transgression was a one-off incident.
Lam agreed that a community service order was appropriate in light of Wong’s background and imposed 140 hours.
Three others charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to the same offence.
Transport worker Man Kim-wai, 29, was found guilty by another magistrate and remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next week. Immigration officer Agostinho Chan Quofei, 35, was cleared of the charge. Audit Commission examiner Mok Koon-hang, 46, will stand trial next month.
Clerk Ng Man-yi, 24, was sentenced to 80 hours of community service after pleading guilty.
The offence is punishable by up to three months in jail and a HK$2,000 (US$254) fine under the Summary Offences Ordinance.
