Match-fixing players arrested

The Independent Commission Against Corruption confirmed Thursday that five football players have been arrested on suspicion that they accepted bribes to fix a football match in the First Division Football League organized by the Hong Kong Football Association.

One, 27-year-old Yu Yang, a player from the mainland, has been charged with one count of offering an advantage to an agent. He will appear in Kowloon City Magistracy today to enter a plea. The other four were released on bail Thursday night.

The investigation is believed to stem from a match between Happy Valley and Fourway Rangers last year. Fourway Rangers confirmed that one player reported there had been an attempt to bribe him.

Underground betting on Hong Kong First Division matches is reported to involve millions of yuan on the mainland.

Community service for driver

The driver of a golf cart involved in a fatal collision at the Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course last year has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service at the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court.

Li Man-yam, 57, drove through the golf course with four colleagues in a modified two-seater golf cart on May 18, last year. One sat beside him, three others on the toolbox behind. He lost control of the cart while traveling down a slope. The cart tipped, injuring all five. One of them, a worker named Chung Shek-shing, died of serious injuries. Li was convicted of dangerous driving causing death in April

Handing down the ruling, magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming said the victims should also take responsibility for crowding into a vehicle they knew to be unsafe. The company that operates the golf course also failed to explain the rules for operating golf carts. Though the offense usually entails jail terms, Li received only community service because of the special circumstances.

Fraud blamed in premium hikes

Chairman of General Insurance Council Harry Wong said fraud and champerty are rampant in minibus-related claims. There are cases of claims based on diseases that can not be ascertained, such as emotional disorder or hallucination. Police, however, have refused to investigate on the grounds that these cases are better pursued through civil litigation.

Leung Hung, chairman of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories Public and Maxicab Light Bus Merchants' United Association, said the police should not ignore the problem which is known as the cause for the increase in insurance premiums. Minibus operators urged the police to look into insurance fraud, which they believe has caused a hike from HK$20,000 to HK$40,000 in their third-party insurance premiums.

Students willing to work on mainland

A survey of university students indicated nearly 70 percent are willing to take jobs based on the mainland after graduation.

The survey was conducted by the Student Network Exchange (SEN) under the Hong Kong United Youth Association in June. Six hundred students from six Hong Kong universities were surveyed. Some 40 percent said prospects for career development are their most important considerations in taking a job, while only 3 percent said salary is most important.

SEN president Adrian Yip Chun-to said that ratio of students attaching importance to salary is surprisingly low. He believes the young people are more willing to take up jobs on the mainland for long-term career development.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/07/2010 page1)