Court Of Appeal Upholds Wilson Fung's Guilty Verdict

Disgraced former official Wilson Fung has failed to overturn his conviction for misconduct in public office at the Court of Appeal, as the court struck down his bid for an appeal on Tuesday.

Having already finished serving his nine-month prison sentence for the offence, the former deputy secretary for economic development and labour had hoped to clear his name.

He was convicted in 2019 for failing to disclose a conflict of interest when he accepted HK$510,000 from Macau businesswoman Cheyenne Chan, who was also his mistress, in 2004.

In refusing to grant Fung leave to appeal, three Court of Appeal judges agreed unanimously that the trial judge had not erred in his ruling.

They said the fact that Fung knew in 2005 that Chan was linked to an aviation company that was applying for air traffic rights from the government, and yet concealed his relationship with her, showed that he deliberately avoided to disclose the issue to the authorities.

The Court of Appeal judges said they agreed with the trial judge that Fung's improper conduct was serious enough to warrant punishment under criminal law, and therefore upheld his guilty verdict.