The ICAC charged a female applicant of the Post-Secondary Student Financial Assistance Scheme with bribing a staff member of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Office with $500 when applying for financial assistance. She was charged with one count of offering an advantage to a public official. She was released on bail , to plead in the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts this Thursday.
The 20-year-old female defendant, Safia Kalsoom, was studying in the second year of the Yew Chung Early Childhood Education College’s Advanced Diploma program in June last year, and submitted an application for financial aid under the Post-secondary Student Financial Assistance Scheme to the SFO. The defendant’s application was preliminarily approved by the Office of Student Finance, and after his parents’ income certificates are reviewed, he will receive full tuition and scholarships of more than 80,000 yuan.
In July last year, the SFO issued the first installment of more than 44,000 yuan to the defendant, and asked her to provide the income records of her parents issued by the Inland Revenue Department. funding.
An assistant clerical officer of the SFO received a letter from the defendant at the end of October last year, which contained two completed forms and a $500 note. The form should be submitted to the Inland Revenue Department to request the income of the defendant’s parents After receiving the report, the SFO referred the incident to the ICAC.
