The District Court has jailed the Buildings Department's Senior Building Surveyor Yick Tze-kai and his wife for their roles in a housing-allowance fraud.

Yick, 50, received a jail term of eight months, while his wife Leung Wai-fun, 49, was jailed for six months, suspended for two years.

Yick earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of agent using document with intent to deceive his principal while Leung was found guilty of one count of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence.

In sentencing, Deputy Judge Ada Yim said Yick committed serious offences which involved substantial planning and constituted a breach of trust, and therefore a custodial sentence was appropriate. The judge also reprimanded Yick for showing no remorse.

Yick was entitled to apply for private tenancy allowance from the Government. Under the PTA scheme, a government officer is prohibited to claim allowances for accommodation owned by himself, and/or relative, or in which the officer and/or his relative hold a financial interest.

Yick purchased a property in Hospital Road in 1991, and later transferred all his rights to a colleague. Yick then told the colleague to open a bank account and hand the account passbook to him for handling the mortgage payment.

Yick also asked the colleague to sign a tenancy agreement in respect of the above property, purportedly showing that the colleague was the landlord and Yick the tenant.

Yick claimed $1.5m in PTA

On August 7, 1991, Yick submitted an application for PTA in relation to the leased property, falsely representing that he was eligible to claim, and received PTA.

On May 4, 1993 and April 21, 1995, Yick used two other similar applications with false representations.

As a result, Yick had claimed PTA totalling about $1.5 million from the government.

In 1997, Yick sold the property and signed the provisional sale and purchase agreement on behalf of the colleague concerned. About $4.7 million from the sale of the property was then transferred to his wife's bank account.