CityU professor gets 4½ months in prison for offering HK$1,000 bribe to agent

A City University (CityU) professor has been sentenced to 4½ months in prison for offering a HK$1,000 (US$128) bribe to a Hong Kong property agent, after a magistrate dismissed the defendant’s claims that the situation arose from “cultural differences”.Du Du, 48, an associate professor at the university’s economics and finance department, was granted bail on Wednesday to appeal against his conviction for offering an advantage to the agent in an attempt to avoid paying HK$16,000 for breaching a tenancy agreement.The court heard that Du, a mainland Chinese academic who previously studied at Peking University and the University of Chicago, signed a provisional tenancy agreement on November 6, 2022, to rent a flat at the Peak One residential complex in Tai Wai.But Du soon changed his mind about the agreement and messaged Midland Realty agent Sammi Chung Fong-chau to offer her HK$1,000 to settle the matter for him “as a friend”.He wrote in the message: “Had this taken place on the mainland, if the two of us had some basic relationship or so, we’d have simply settled it by ourselves without letting our companies know.”Du also described procedures in Hong Kong as “so rigid and methodical”.During an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, he told officers that the offer of HK$1,000 was intended as compensation for Chung’s travel expenses and time lost.