A Hong Kong court has sentenced a suspended policeman to six months in prison for fraudulently persuading a doctor to give him 54 days of additional sick leave during the 2019 social unrest, when he pretended to be a personal trainer who was unfit for work.
Jeffrey Tam Shun-wai, 32, was convicted on Tuesday at West Kowloon Court on a count of fraud, despite denying that he had intentionally deceived surgeon Wilson Tsang Wen-chieng during medical appointments between September and October 2019 to avoid police work during anti-government protests at the time.
The surgeon earlier testified that the defendant, who underwent a hernia operation that September, had claimed he was a personal trainer and that, despite the occupation being a typically self-employed role, he had a supervisor who would demand he perform intense training once he returned to work.
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Tsang told Magistrate Amy Chan Wai-mun that during a consultation, he had asked Tam why, as a personal trainer, he could not arrange lighter work for himself.
According to the doctor, the defendant replied: “Either I don’t go back or, if I do, the boss will ask me to train hard.”
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Upon Tam’s request, Tsang gave him an additional 54 days of sick leave, on top of the eight weeks he had already ordered.