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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Conspiracy to violate one or more laws. |
Sentence: |
"HK$28,000 fine" |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2009 |
Year Convicted: |
2015 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Hong Kong |
County or Region of Crime: |
Hong Kong |
City of Crime: |
Hong Kong |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun and Stephen Chan Chi-wan were codefendants wrongly convicted in 2012 of conspiracy to accept an advantage (Bribery) in Hong Kong. TVB manager Stephen Chan hosted his popular "Be My Guest" TV show during a New Years Eve countdown program on December 31, 2009 at the Olympian City mall in Hong Kong that was co-organized by TVB. For Chan's performance the mall paid HK$160,000 to a company run by Chan's assistant, Edthancy Tseng. Chan received HK$84,000 and Tseng HK$28,000. Chan and Tseng did not notify TVB about the production. Their prosecution was based on their failure to give their employer any of the HK$160,000. Their defense was that Chan had done more than 150 of his "Be My Guest" shows on TVB without being paid any money by the station, and he and Tseng were “moonlighting” and not working for TVB when they produced the program. In September 2011 a District Court Judge Poon Siu-tung acquitted Chan and Tseng on the basis that Chan appeared on the shw as a celebrity or an artist, not as an agent of TVB. The prosecution appealed, and on November 21, 2012 Hong Kong's Court of Appeal quashed the acquittals and ordered the District Court to reconsider the case. Both men were ordered released on HK$100,000 bail pending consideration of the case by the District Court, and on December 18, 2012 the District Court ordered their release on bail pending the outcome of the reconsideration of their case. On March 7, 2013, after a two-day trial, Judge Siu-tung again acquitted Chan and Tseng. The prosecution appealed. In December 2015 the Court of Appeal again quashed their acquittals, and Chan was fined HK$84,000, and Tseng HK$28,000 -- the exact amounts they received from the payment by the mall. The prosecution decided not to appeal what they viewed as a lenient jail-free sentence, however, Chan and Tseng appealed their convictions. On March 7, 2017 Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal unanimously quashed the convictions of Chan and Tseng and ordered their acquittals." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On March 7, 2017 Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal unanimously quashed the convictions of Chan and Tseng and ordered their acquittals." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Chinese |
Information Source 1: |
"Ex-TVB chief Stephen Chan acquitted of bribery, By Lai Ying-ki, South China Morning Post, March 7, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1185310/ex-tvb-chief-stephen-chan-acquitted-bribery |
Information Source 2: |
"Stephen Chan freed on bail, By Thomas Chan, South China Morning Post, December 19, 2012" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1107662/stephen-chan-freed-bail |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org