Hong Kong woman jailed for 2 weeks, fined HK$5,000 over leaking public exam paper on social media
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong woman has been jailed for two weeks and fined HK$5,000 over leaking university entrance examination questions on social media.
Lau Kwun-hei, 23, was sentenced at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday for committing one count of “breach of secrecy” under the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance, local media reported. She earlier pleaded guilty to the charge.
In handing down Lau’s penalty, Principal Magistrate Don So said the then-teaching assistant had committed the offence for personal gain, as she wanted to promote her tutorial business by sharing the exam questions online as soon as possible.
So said the main mitigating factor was that the defendant had disclosed the exam paper after the assessment, and thus did not cause any actual unfairness to the exam. He meted out a two-week jail term and a HK$5,000 fine to Lau as a “minor punishment with a stern warning,” according to local media.
Lau, who was a teaching assistant at a secondary school in Wong Tai Sin, was arrested in April on suspicion of sharing a test paper from the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
The English-language listening paper was found to have been shared by an account named “Ms.lucy” three days after the test took place on April 13. The Hong Kong Examinations Authority (HKEAA) later reported the case to the police.
According to local media, Lau this year acted as an external HKDSE exam invigilator and supervised candidates during tests including the English-language listening exam. She had signed agreements with the examination authority to preserve the secrecy of examination papers.
Under the HKEAA ordinance, anyone convicted of contravening the confidentiality provisions may face a maximum fine of HK$25,000 and up to six months of imprisonment.
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