Hong Kong civil servant charged with misconduct over bogus littering tickets issued to 5

Alleged victims did not pay the fines because they were unaware of the notices, resulting in court orders, arrest warrants and one arrest

A Hong Kong civil servant has been charged with misconduct in public office for allegedly issuing bogus fixed-penalty littering notices to five people, triggering court-issued arrest warrants and the wrongful arrest of an innocent person.

Law Yui, a 41-year-old foreman with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), was charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Tuesday.

The charge followed an internal FEHD investigation that uncovered the alleged irregularities and referred the case to the graft-buster.

The ICAC said Law, who was posted to the Sham Shui Po district Environmental Hygiene Office, allegedly issued fixed penalty notices of HK$3,000 (US$383) each to five people for littering between December 2023 and February 2024, without reasonable excuse or justification, despite no littering offences having taken place.

The five alleged victims had previously received fixed penalty notices from Law between 2021 and 2022. It was suspected that he used their earlier particulars to reissue the notices.