Hong Kong police have arrested a woman on suspicion of sharing test papers from the city’s university entrance examination online. The documents were leaked on Chinese social networking site Xiaohongshu, local media reported.
A 23-year-old woman surnamed Lau was detained on Wednesday for allegedly breaching the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance, police said in a statement on Thursday. She was granted bail pending investigation and must report to the force in mid-May.
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) said it filed a police report on Tuesday following cases in which examination papers of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) were shared on social media platforms.
Confidentiality ‘not affected’
Local media said the answer scripts of various papers of the HKDSE, which began last Tuesday, were posted on Xiaohongshu. The subjects concerned included Chinese Language and Mathematics, screenshots taken by local media showed.
“Initial findings indicate that the cases involving the online posting of HKDSE examination
papers occurred after the completion of the respective subject examinations. Therefore, the confidentiality of the HKDSE has not been affected,” an English statement from HKEAA read.
The authority said its examination personnel must not reproduce or publish the content of exam papers content in any format without approval.
If any individual breached the confidentiality regulations, the statutory body would take “stringent follow-up actions” and report to law enforcement units if any suspected unlawful acts were involved.
Any who violates the relevant provisions of the Hong Kong Examination and Assessment Authority Ordinance faces a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$25,000.
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