A Housing Department officer was sentenced to 120 hours of community service on November 10 after pleading guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office.
The prosecution said the misconduct took place between October 2022 and October 2024. The officer, who was posted to the Housing Department office at Tai Wo Hau Estate, told the daughter of a public-housing tenant that an application to add household members to a flat there had been approved. She also told a non-governmental organisation that its application to hold a community activity had been approved. She had sent neither application to the housing affairs manager responsible for approval.
She added the daughter and her husband to the household list on the tenancy agreement and sent the organisation a letter in the department’s name confirming approval.
The conduct could have exposed the tenant’s daughter to penalties over an unauthorised household addition or unpaid extra rent, and left the organisation unable to claim activity expenses. The defence told the court that the tenant’s application was eventually approved and that no one had suffered a loss.
The sentencing magistrate described the case as apparently a single incident and said she believed the officer had reflected deeply on her conduct.