Benny Tai Pleads Guilty To Illegal Poll Spending

The co-founder of the Occupy movement, Benny Tai, on Monday pleaded guilty to illegal election spending in the run-up to the 2016 Legco polls, for placing newspaper ads to promote his strategic voting scheme.

The "ThunderGo" plan Tai proposed sought to use pre-election poll results to coordinate voters, in the hope that the pan-democratic camp could win a majority in the legislature.

The District Court heard that the HK$253,000 Tai incurred was illegal, because he was neither a candidate nor a candidate’s election expense agent.

The six ads in question were placed in Ming Pao and the now-defunct Apple Daily in August and September 2016.

Sentencing was adjourned to May 24 and the former law professor, who faces other charges, remains in custody.

Two directors of a company through which the ads were placed were also charged with engaging in illegal conduct at an election by incurring election expenses.

Ip Kim-ching, 55, and Sek Sau-ching, 50, were bound over for 12 months for the sum of HK$40,000.