Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming has been found guilty of running an unregistered school after holding a Spanish interest class at his bookstore, Book Punch, last year.

Pong and his firm, Active Experiential Learning Company, which owns Book Punch, were fined a total of HK$32,000 at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.

Before handing down the fine, Magistrate Arthur Lam said he had found them guilty of five charges alleging that Pong and the company ran an unregistered school and allowed a person without a permit to teach.

The charges relate to a Spanish interest class held at Book Punch in April last year, with 12 participants being taught by a tutor named Antonio Baro Montane at the Sham Shui Po bookstore.

Magistrate Lam said the case centred around whether Book Punch met the definition of a school under the city’s Education Ordinance, which defines a school as an institution that provides formal education or “any other educational course by any means” for 20 people or more in a day, or eight people or more at one time.

Lam rejected the defence’s argument that an educational course must involve an assessment mechanism, such as exams, or lead to an academic qualification.

“A course is concerned about progress or… a series of lessons about a particular topic,” Lam said in Cantonese.

“In this case, it was obvious that Montane was teaching and the [students] were learning,” he said.

He also rejected the defence’s submission that Pong was led to believe that an interest class did not require registration because of a 2017 remark by ex-education chief Kevin Yeung.

At the time, Yeung said in a written reply to a lawmaker at the Legislative Council that interest classes such as those teaching dance and acting would not require school registration “because they are interests.”

Lam said Yeung’s remark came with a precondition that an interest class does not provide educational activities.

“The Spanish class in question offers information on basic grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, as well as common phrases for travelling,” the magistrate said. “These are clearly educational content.”

See also: Hong Kong indie bookshop founder, 3 staff members granted bail after national security arrests

Defence lawyer Lawrence Lau said during the mitigation hearing on Friday, ahead of sentencing, that Pong’s interest class was small in scale and short-lived, adding that it did not receive complaints about educational quality or potential fire safety violations.

Lau also said that, in the past year, Book Punch had been operating at a loss, with Pong subsidising the bookstore with HK$20,000 from his own savings each month.

Lam ordered an HK$8,000 fine for each of the three offences relating to the operation of an unregistered school, and a HK$4,000 fine for each of the two remaining offences concerning the unregistered teacher.

The maximum of the offence of running an unregistered school is up to two years in prison and a fine of HK$250,000. Allowing a person to teach without a permit carries a maximum of two years’ imprisonment and a HK$50,000 fine.

An acclaimed Hong Kong director has accused her alma mater of “publicly lying” after the prestigious girls’ school said it never authorised a controversial documentary to be screened overseas amid a fresh privacy row.

To My Nineteen-Year-OId Self, an award-winning documentary commissioned by Ying Wa Girls’ School that tracked the lives of six students over the course of a decade from 2011, was pulled from cinemas in 2023 after one of the students featured said she did not consent to public screenings.

The drama sparked a heated debate over documentary ethics, which was reignited last week after two the film’s subjects opposed the film’s screening at the Far East Film Festival in Italy.

The screening is set to take place later this month.

Director Mabel Cheung and her production team issued an open letter on Thursday night as the controversy snowballed, after Ying Wa Girls’ School issued a statement earlier that day that it had not approved the Italy screening.

In the Chinese-language letter sent to media, Cheung, a prominent alumni of the school, said she was “saddened” and felt “regretful” at the school’s position.

Cheung said the principal did not oppose the Italy screening during a meeting two months ago.

“For three years we kept our silence and avoided the media, with the team under immense psychological pressure. However, we said nothing out of respect for the school and to ensure the students in the film remained free from public opinion,” Cheung wrote.

“My alma mater’s statement… sought to distance itself from the incident. I am deeply shocked. The school is lying publicly, which is unacceptable and intolerable.”

‘Scapegoating’

Cheung said she and a representative from the film’s distributor, Golden Scene, met with the school’s principal and vice-principal in February to discuss the Italy screening.

“During the meeting, the principal even told us to prepare a budget for joining the film festival. Both of them made no opposition,” she said.

Cheung also said that the principal told her that all but one student in the film, surnamed Wong, “agreed” to the screening plan in Italy.

The production team edited her parts out of the film, Cheung said.

“As far as I know, the film festival organisers had informed [Wong’s] lawyer about this,” she added.

Cheung said she “did not expect” a second student to express disagreement to the media.

That student, surnamed Sheh, signed a consent form in 2022 for the film to be screened publicly and to participate in film festivals, she said.

The director said she had hoped the controversy could be resolved via communication, describing Ying Wa Girls’ School’s statement as “scapegoating.”

“To My Nineteen-Year-OId Self is an unpaid effort by a group of alumni who wish to leave a historical record for the school… it is great irony in this incident that the school has chosen to sever ties,” Cheung wrote.

School’s statement

In its statement, Ying Wa Girls’ School said: “The School, being the owner of the documentary, hereby clarifies that no screenings of the documentary in any form will occur without resolving consent issues with all major cast members.”

“Consequently, the School has not granted authorization for the documentary to be screened at the Far East Film Festival in Italy.”

Ying Wa Girls’ School’s statement came after the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, the city’s privacy watchdog, reportedly contacted the school expressing concern over the film’s screening.

In a separate statement on Thursday night, Golden Scene corroborated Cheung’s account about a meeting with the school’s principal earlier this year and said the school’s claims were false.

Golden Scene said it would not rule out legal action to protect its reputation.

The documentary won best film at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2023, two months after it was pulled from cinemas when Wong published a long letter in a media outlet saying she had opposed the film’s public screening “from the very beginning.”

After news emerged last week that the film was scheduled for a screening in Italy, Wong told media that she was not consulted about it and that she remained opposed. Sheh also reportedly said she told Ying Wa Girls’ School that she opposed the screening plan in January.

HKFP was unable to reach the two women for comment.

A petition launched by homeowners of the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court housing estate lacked authentication mechanisms and may contain forged signatures, the government has said following residents’ complaints.

The Home Affairs Department said on Thursday that it received complaints from several Wang Fuk Court residents, who criticised the petition for not verifying the identities of signatories.

“Individual flat owners said the so-called petition lacked authentication mechanisms and may involve people impersonating owners and forging signatures. Personal information collected is also at risk of being abused or misused without authorisation,” the department said in a Chinese-language emailed reply.

The department said it has referred the matter to law enforcement agencies for investigation.

Demand rejected

The petition, launched last month, called for a formal owners’ meeting with the government-appointed estate administrator, Hop On Management.

As of Wednesday, it had been signed by 428 Wang Fuk Court flat owners – down from the previous tally of 431 after invalid signatures were found, the petition’s organisers told HKFP.

Residents are seeking clarity on unresolved issues, including future accommodation, the disbursement of public donations and insurance claims, and the management of remaining funds for the estate’s renovation and maintenance.

Hong Kong’s Building Management Ordinance stipulates that a management committee must convene a general meeting at the written request of at least five per cent of owners. Wang Fuk Court has a total of 1,984 units, and 430 valid signatories would exceed the required threshold.

However, Hop On, a subsidiary of real estate giant Chinachem Group, rejected the demand. In an emailed reply on Sunday, Hop On told a signatory that the petition did not meet the statutory requirement and that it would not hold a formal owners’ meeting at this stage.

“Following a detailed review and consultation with legal counsel, we note that… you had gathered owners’ concerns via an online form, but provided no further information,” Hop On said in the email, which was seen by HKFP.

‘Update session’

However, the government-appointed administrator is set to hold an in-person “update session” in early May regarding financial matters such as compensation and refunds, according to a notice issued on Saturday.

Hop On said the session would not overlap with the ongoing public inquiry into the fire or the scheduled dates for residents to return home to collect personal belongings. Details of the session will be announced later, it said.

Wang Fuk Court residents will be allowed to return to their fire-ravaged flats between April 20 and May 4 to retrieve personal items, the government announced earlier.

The blaze in November killed 168 people and displaced thousands – the worst fire in Hong Kong since 1948.

Hop On was chosen by the government in January to take over as the “administrator” of the estate after the owners’ corporation board was dissolved by the Lands Tribunal.

Hong Kong police have arrested a man suspected of stealing the personal data of more than 56,000 patients from a Hospital Authority (HA) computer system.

On Wednesday, police identified the 30-year-old suspect as an employee of a systems maintenance contractor hired by the HA. He is accused of downloading patient data without authorisation.

The HA previously disclosed on Saturday that personal information belonging to patients – including names, genders, ID numbers and surgical procedure details – in the Kowloon East cluster was leaked onto a “third-party platform.”

During a press conference on Wednesday, officers from the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau said the leak originated from two of the contractor’s offices in the New Territories.

Police raided the offices, seizing more than 60 digital devices, including servers and mobile phones. The suspect was arrested Tuesday in Tin Shui Wai on suspicion of “access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent.”

Superintendent Ferris Cheung said investigators are still probing the suspect’s motive and possible accomplices.

Limited access to medical records

Tony Ha, the HA’s director for strategy and planning, said during the same press conference that the contractor was responsible for an operating room system used by the Kowloon East network.

“The system involved in this data leak only contained information related to surgical procedures,” Ha said in Cantonese. “The system and the contractor do not have full access to patients’ medical records.”

Following the breach, the HA conducted a comprehensive scan of its other systems and found no further irregularities, he said.

Ha added that all contractor access to HA systems had been suspended and that any emergency maintenance must now be carried out under the direct supervision of HA personnel.

See also: Hong Kong privacy watchdog records 20% increase in data breaches – a third involve hacking

Former lawmaker Michael Tien alleged on Saturday that the leak occurred at United Christian Hospital’s anaesthesiology department during a system upgrade on April 1.

Ha declined to comment on this specific claim on Wednesday. He also defended the delay in public disclosure, saying the timing was coordinated with law enforcement.

Kenny Yuen, IT coordinator for the HA’s Kowloon East cluster, said the authority had notified more than 37,000 users via the HA Go mobile app. An additional 9,000 patients were informed by phone, and 18,000 letters were sent.

Officials urged patients to remain vigilant against potential scams and to report any suspicious calls to the authorities.

Renovation workers at the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court kept smoking despite the estate’s management demanding that the project contractor fix the problem, a property officer has told a public inquiry.

Cheng Tsz-ying, a property officer from ISS EastPoint Properties, which managed the housing estate in Tai Po, testified before an independent committee tasked with investigating the blaze on Thursday. She said that her company had no control over renovation workers hired by the project’s main contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering.

Victor Dawes, the lead committee lawyer, previously said that smoking was “most likely” the cause of the blaze that broke out on November 26 and raged for 43 hours, killing 168 people. Residents also testified that they saw workers smoking and filed multiple complaints, but to no avail.

Minutes from a project meeting in March 2025 showed that ISS and the Wang Fuk Court owners’ committee raised the issue with Prestige and gave it a month to improve, including by designating a smoking area.

But Cheng told the hearing that things “barely improved” afterwards. She said other complaints regarding the accumulation of rubbish and construction waste also did not lead to significant change.

Dawes asked Cheng whether it was fair to describe ISS’s role as a “speaking tube” – that of passing on residents’ complaints to Prestige.

“I can only say we couldn’t control Prestige’s workers. We couldn’t fire them,” Cheng said in Cantonese.

She added that Prestige had vowed to dismiss workers who smoked at work, but admitted that she did not know if the construction firm had enforced the rule.

Cheng, who was assigned to Wang Fuk Court in 2018, was the highest-ranked officer from ISS to testify at the public inquiry. When asked by Dawes, she said she did not know why her direct supervisor, manager Lai Wing-lee, did not choose to testify.

Rooftop water tanks

Earlier this week, an executive and a senior worker from Victory Fire Engineering – a fire safety contractor for Wang Fuk Court- testified that they discovered the estate’s alarm system was disabled before the blaze. They said that, at the time, they requested Cheng to produce the “shutdown notice,” which notifies the Fire Services Department of a deactivation.

Cheng disagreed with their accounts on Thursday, saying that it was only after the fire broke out that they requested her to show the official notice.

In July last year, ISS workers turned off the master switch of Wang Fuk Court’s fire safety system at the request of Prestige, which intended to conduct repairs to rooftop water tanks.

WhatsApp messaging logs from October showed Cheng texted Victory Fire director Chung Kit-man that the water tanks were refilled. On November 21, Cheng sent him 15 photos, which appeared to show full tanks.

However, at least two photos appeared to be taken before November, in August and September, respectively. Dawes said there was no evidence showing that the tanks had been refilled at the time of the fire.

Cheng said she received the photos from her junior colleague, Lok Sin-ying, and forwarded them to Chung. She added she did not know if the tanks were actually filled.

Proxy votes

Cheng also admitted that ISS had no mechanism to verify proxy votes at the Wang Fuk Court owners’ committee meetings.

The inquiry heard on Wednesday that proxy votes were “very common” at owners’ meetings and that they were difficult to verify.

Residents had also lodged at least nine complaints with the Home Affairs Department about suspected fake proxy votes, Dawes said during Thursday’s hearing.

However, ISS did not receive a written complaint on the issue, Cheng said, adding the management office had “barely” discussed how to improve scrutiny of fake votes.

The hearings are set to resume next week after the Easter holiday and Ching Ming Festival.