Former HKUST professor sentenced to 20 weeks for bribery
發佈日期: 2026-05-28 19:58
TVB News
A former Chair Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for accepting a 40,000 dollars bribe from a friend to help a student secure admission into a master's degree programme.
Samantha Li was in court today.
The 63-year-old defendent Liu Hongbin was taken to the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts by a prison van this morning.
He previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for a public servant to accept an advantage, and two counts of offering an advantage to a public servant.
At the time of the offence, Liu was a Chair Professor in the Department of Ocean Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
He admitted to accepting a bribe of 40,000 dollars from a friend between March and May last year, to assist a student majoring in automotive engineering who did not meet the academic requirements to enroll in the Master of Science in Environmental Health and Safety programme.
He also offered "red packets" containing 5,000 and 1,000 dollars respectively to a lecturer and a staff member responsible for admission matters, saying they were "a token of apprecation of their hard work."
The two staff members refused to accept the envelopes and reported the matter to the university.
Liu and his insurance agent friend were arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in June last year.
In mitigation, Liu said he was born in the Mainland but have lived in Hong Kong for the past 20 years.
He said he served on government committees, and received postive comments from colleagues.
Hoping the court would hand down a suspended sentence, he claimed to suffer from depression because of the case and expressed remorse.
Acting Principal Magistrate Chung Ming-sun notes Liu has been in the city for many years and should understand what he did was illegal.
Although the programme has no quota limit, all applicants should be treated fairly.
Taking into account the defendant's background, his academic contributions and his cooperation with the ICAC, Liu is sentenced to 20 weeks in prison.
As for the other defendant Lam Pui-ling, her case will be handled on June 24.
The judge stated that corruption and bribery are serious offences in Hong Kong that cannot be tolerated.
Since no truly exceptional circumstances exist in this case, imprisonment is considered an appropriate sentence.
