A registered electrician at a lighting and sound engineering company has been jailed for two months after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. A false work-history certificate he issued helped an applicant obtain a Grade A electrical-work certificate, the entry-level grade.
The prosecution said the applicant applied for the licence in mid-2021, but the department found his supporting documents incomplete and asked for proof of work experience. He then sought the electrician’s help through a friend.
The electrician received HK$15,000 and issued, without authorisation, a certificate in the company’s name claiming the applicant had worked there from September 2011 to December 2015 under his supervision. The applicant submitted it as a supplementary document and ultimately obtained the licence.
The anti-corruption agency said its investigation found the company had never employed the applicant and the electrician had not been authorised to issue the certificate. It warned that false registration could harm the quality of electrical work and endanger public safety.
The applicant, 49, was charged as a co-defendant with the same offence and was due to enter a plea on 19 November.