Retired Hong Kong social worker given community service for defrauding authorities
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Eastern Court on Thursday adopted a probation officer's recommendation to sentence Eddie Tse Sai-kit to 120 hours of unpaid community work after his lawyer said he 'recklessly' understated his earnings to obtain four months' worth of old age living allowances last year.
A presentencing report cited the 68-year-old defendant as saying he had mistakenly believed that he only needed to report his average monthly income over the year in his application to the Social Welfare Department.
Acting Principal Magistrate David Cheung Chi-wai at one point questioned whether the court should accept the 68-year-old defendant's
earlier guilty plea , before finding that his failure to make an accurate declaration went beyond mere negligence and deserved criminal sanction.
Cheung also noted that Tse had admitted wrongdoing at the first opportunity and was remorseful.
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Tse was arrested early this year while he was challenging an environmental impact assessment report that endorsed the development of
a technology hub near the mainland Chinese border
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