Former and incumbent Kowloon City District Councillors have been charged for swindling $250,000 in rent allowances from the Government by inflating their office rent.

Serving members Virginia Fung, 58, and Lau Ting-pong, 56, and former councillor Luk Wai-kong, 51, will appear at Kowloon City Magistracy January 12 to face seven charges - one of conspiracy to defraud and six of furnishing false information.

Fung and Luk allegedly conspired to defraud the Government between April and August 1998 by dishonestly telling the provisional district board they paid a monthly rent of $5,080 for renting a Hung Hom premises as their joint ward office in June and July 1998. The Government paid them $20,320 in rental allowances while they had only paid $14,800 to rent the flat.

Fung further faces four counts of furnishing false information to apply for reimbursement of office rent allowances between September 1998 and September 2004. She allegedly produced 73 rent receipts and eight other receipts, which were to her knowledge misleading, false or deceptive, for claiming allowances. They purportedly showed Fung had paid $5,080, $9,000 or $10,000 to rent the Hung Hom flat in different periods of time from August 1998 to August 2004, and a monthly fee of $1,100 for cleaning services.

Lau faces two counts of furnishing false information between December 1999 and January 2003. He allegedly produced 17 rental receipts purportedly showing he paid $10,000 or $2,000 rent in two different periods between January 2000 and December 2002 for renting the same premises.