The trial of TVB general manager Stephen Chan Chi-wan and two others on charges of fraud and corruption will begin on June 21.All three have pleaded not guilty.
Chan appeared in the District Court yesterday for a pretrial review, accompanied by his good friend and artiste Wong Hei. The 51-year-old general manager is represented by senior counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen.
The prosecution said the trial will be in Chinese and will likely last four weeks.
The 54 prosecution witnesses will include 24 TVB artistes and management-level staff as well as six officers from the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Of these, about 30 will testify before Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi while the rest will submit written statements.
Chan, Idea Empire Advertising and Production director Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun, 28, and Wilson Chan Wing-shuen, 63, head of business development for TVB's marketing and sales division, face a total of five charges.
Chan is alleged to have received HK$112,000 from Tseng to participate in a show entitled Be My Guest during the 2010 New Year's Eve countdown at Olympian City.
Chan and Tseng also allegedly conspired to defraud TVB and five female artistes at a book-signing ceremony by concealing a deal whereby Ma Belle Jewellery would pay Idea Empire HK$300,000 to have the performers attend the ceremony.
The three were arrested by graftbusters in March last year in a high-profile operation.
They are on bail of HK$100,000 each. In a surprise move in November, Chan resumed most of his managerial duties at the station despite the charges linked to his work.
Outside court yesterday, Chan said a High Court libel writ filed by TVB against ATV concerns the allegation that it falsified ratings.
"The [ratings] allegation is serious. We took the action after ATV's failure to respond to our demand to issue a public apology within seven days," he said.
Chan also stressed that TVB ratings surveys are carried out by an independent third party over which the station has no control.
TVB wrote to the Broadcasting Authority this month asking that it launch a probe into the alleged libel, he added.
Source: The Standard
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