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A company was fined $30,000 at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (December 14) for contravening Section 4(1) of the Karaoke Establishments Ordinance.
The court heard that Officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department (HAD), conducted a decoy operation against a suspected unlicensed karaoke establishment in Prat Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui in April this year. They found several signboards and posters for the karaoke establishment displayed on the external wall at the Ground Floor and First Floor of the building where the karaoke establishment was located.
The operation teams patronised the karaoke establishment according to the address shown on the signboards. They were led to four different rooms on the first and third floors respectively. Audio-visual and other devices for karaoke activity were found in the rooms.
Under caution, two people responsible for the karaoke establishment admitted that there were 60 rooms providing karaoke facilities to patrons. Three customers at the scene admitted that they were patronising the karaoke premises.
According to the OLA's record, the premises had been operating as a karaoke establishment without holding a valid permit or licence as required under the Karaoke Establishments Ordinance.
An HAD spokesman stressed that it was a criminal offence to operate an unlicensed karaoke establishment.
He said that illegal karaoke establishments would not be tolerated and enforcement action would continue to be taken against them to ensure the safety of patrons of these establishments.
He also urged the public to report unlicensed karaoke establishments to the OLA on 2881 7498.
Ends/Thursday, December 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:35
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