HK former officials sentenced suspended prison

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's former Development Minister Mak Chai-kwong and Highways Department Assistant Director Tsang King-man Thursday received sentences of suspended prison over housing allowances fraud.

Mak and Tsang were accused of cheating the government private tenancy allowances worth more than 700,000 HK dollars ($90,206) between June 8, 1985 and December 31, 1990 by concealing that they had financial interest in flats they rent from each other's wives.

The pair were found guilty by Hong Kong District Court in June and each was given a suspended sentence of eight months' prison on Thursday.

Mak was appointed the Secretary for Development in June, 2012 and took office on July 1, 2012. He resigned twelve days after being arrested.