Senior Hong Kong banker convicted of groping woman in karaoke bar

Apr 7, 2009, 4:44 GMT

   Hong Kong - A senior HSBC banker has been convicted of indecent assault after drunkenly groping a woman in a Hong Kong karaoke bar, a news report said Tuesday.

   Michael Chan Chi-wang followed the 26-year-old woman into the washrooms at the karaoke bar and grabbed her from behind, groping her breasts, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

   Chan, who is married and holds the job of vice president of commercial banking at HSBC Holdings PLC in Hong Kong, begged her not to report the matter to police when she alerted the manager at the karaoke bar about the assault.

   At a hearing Monday, Chan was found guilty of indecent assault over the September incident. He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service in the city's Eastern Court.

   Chan, 30, told the court he mistook the victim for his ex-girlfriend who he had not seen in six years and accidentally touched her breasts when she tried to get away from him.

   He pleaded with the court not to destroy his career with HSBC, which he joined in 2001, for what he described as 'two seconds of folly.'

   Magistrate So Wai-tak told Chan she had taken into account his good background and the support he had received from his wife and family, the newspaper said.