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HK bodybuilding boss, Asiad champion jailed for bribery

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-04 09:53

Chan Yun-to, men's 75kg bodybuilding champion of the Asian Games in Doha. [File photo]

HONG KONG - A former chairman of the Hong Kong bodybuilding association and a Doha Asian Games champion were both sentenced to jail here on Tuesday for a bribery scam to assist the suspended athlete in competing in the 2006 Asiad.

Chan Siu-man, 40, former chairman of Hong Kong China Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (HKCBBA), received a jail term of three years while Chan Yun-to, 44, the men's 75kg bodybuilding champion of the Asian Games in Doha, was jailed for 16 months.

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Chan Siu-man and Chan Yun-to were found guilty of a joint charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent. Chan Siu-man alone was convicted of four other charges, two of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent, one of conspiracy to defraud and one of fraud.

According to details released by ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption), Chan Yun-to and two other bodybuilding athletes failed doping tests in Oct 2005 after competing in a bodybuilding championships held in South Korea. The trio was banned from any bodybuilding competition for different periods of time.

Between January and Dec 2006, Chan Siu-man, then chairman of HKCBBA, and Chan Yun-to conspired together with another person to offer a bribe of $10,000 to Paul Chua, secretary-general of the Asian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation as a reward for shortening or lifting the period of suspension of participating in any bodybuilding competition imposed on Chan Yun-to, and enabling him to participate in the 2006 Asian Games.

Between January 2006 and May 2009, Chan Siu-man conspired together with another suspended athlete and Chan Yun-to to offer a bribe of between 100,000 odd and 200,000 HK dollars to Chua for the same reason.

Chan Siu-man also conspired together with a third suspended athlete to offer another bribe of $10,000 to Chua between May 2006 and February 2007 for the same reason.

Moreover, between April 2007 and May 2009, Chan Siu-man conspired together with a bodybuilding athlete to defraud the Hong Kong Sports Institute of an elite training grant in the total sum of HK$600,000.