A Drainage Services Department officer has admitted accepting $70,000 in unauthorised loans from subordinates and $125,000 in deceived loans from colleagues under false pretexts.

Chief Technical Officer Wong Koon-wah, 53, pleaded guilty at Eastern Magistracy today to three counts of accepting an advantage without permission and to five counts of fraud and one of theft. Magistrate Li Wai-chi adjourned sentencing to October 24, and Wong was remanded in custody.

In October 2003 he asked for a $60,000 loan from a subordinate on the pretext that he needed money to hire lawyers for his son's criminal case. He accepted the loan in two payments. In July 2004 he asked for and accepted another loan of $10,000 from a second subordinate because he was in urgent need of money.

Between November 2003 and August 2004 he cheated five other colleagues into granting him loans totalling $125,000 on various false pretexts. The court also heard he stole a SIM card from a contractor for his personal use, causing $9,000 in bills.