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Public rental housing (PRH) tenants have been urged to give accurate and true information pursuant to a requisition under the Housing Ordinance because tenants making false statements may face prosecution.
A spokesman for the Housing Department today (June 25) said a public rental housing tenant was convicted after his guilty plea and was fined $13,000 at the Kwun Tong Magistracy recently for making false statements in applying for external transfer to another PRH estate.
Under a Voluntary External Transfer Exercise, the tenant submitted an application for external transfer in June, 2004, as he and his four other family members were occupying a PRH unit with an internal floor area of 29.26 square metres.
On the application form, the tenant knowingly made a false statement by declaring that his daughter was single in respect of her marital status. In so doing, the tenant obtained a better chance of success in his application for external transfer. In December, 2004, the Housing Authority allocated a PRH unit with an internal floor area of 45.79 square metres to the tenant.
During an intake interview in January, 2005, the tenant made another false statement to the Assistant Property Manager of a Property Services Company by declaring that his daughter was single in respect of her marital status.
The spokesman said that in accordance with the Housing Ordinance PRH tenants convicted of knowingly making a false statement faced a maximum fine of $50,000 and six months' imprisonment.
Ends/Sunday, June 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:01
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