955 cases of illegal cigarettes busted

Authorities solved 955 cases of smuggling, storage or sales of illicit cigarettes in the first quarter of this year, up 28 percent compared with the average number of cases in the same period in the past three years, a top official said yesterday.

However, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Chan Ka-keung told lawmakers that there was no significant change in the number of illicit cigarettes involved.

Soong Ching Ling exhibition extends to July 15

The exhibition "A Sketch of Soong Ching Ling and Her Artifacts" at the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum in Central, which has attracted more than 40,000 visitors since its opening on March 20, will be extended to July 15.The 70 exhibits on display tell the love story of Madam Soong Ching Ling (1893-1981) and Dr Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) and provide a glimpse of Soong's legendary life. They include the wedding gift from Soong's mother, the pen Dr Sun used to sign his will and family testaments, the wedding gift given by Dr Sun to Soong, the clothes worn by Soong during her exile as well as the last pyjamas she ever wore.

Woman and father jailed for money laundering

The District Court yesterday jailed a 38-year-old woman for five years and sentenced her 74-year-old father to 54 months' imprisonment for money laundering. The court heard that the Commercial Crime Bureau received reports from victims overseas who said they had been deceived into depositing money into two companies' bank accounts in Hong Kong in late 2005. Investigations revealed that a mainlander had hired the woman's secretarial company to register two companies in Hong Kong and set up bank accounts for the companies. The woman assigned her father as the sole signatory of the bank accounts. Some 127 remittances of various currencies totalling about HK$43.2 million were deposited into the accounts. Most of the money was then remitted to the mainland.

Universities receive 8 complaints of fraud

A total of eight complaints among universities were received in the past three academic years about plagiarism, frauds in research results, listing another person's names as co-authors of a work without prior consent, or stealing and publishing another person's research data, according to information provided by the institutions funded by the University Grants Committee. Among them, three were substantiated, resulting in the withdrawal of the academic papers in question.

China Daily - Agencies

(HK Edition 06/04/2009 page1)