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| The illicit operation was said to have been run from a luxury flat in Tregunter Path, Mid-Levels |
By Vir B. Lumicao
For the second time, an Eastern Court
Magistrate Peter Law made his comment as the prosecution
said an investigation into the bank accounts of the company owned by the Filipinas’
employers showed it had made as much as $20 million from the illicit operation.
The prosecution asked for an adjournment for two more months
but Law denied the request. He set the next hearing to Monday, Jan. 7, and
remanded the two Filipinas in custody.
Law reminded the prosecution that defendants Jo-an
Palpal-latoc and Jeanette Gallego had already spent eight months in detention
with their case still stuck in court. Last August, he also chided the
prosecution for the lack of movement in the case.
Palpal-latoc, 40, and Gallego, 47, both face a charge of
living on the earnings of prostitution of others.
They were arrested for allegedly manning a number of dating
websites offering sex to foreign tourists run by the company owned by their 69-year-old
employer identified only as Ms. Wong, from her luxury flat in Tregunter Path,
Mid-Levels.
Wong, her 72-year-old sister, and a male person were also arrested
but were released on police bail while a separate investigation of their
illicit business was under way.
The judge reiterated his concern over the Filipinas’
extended detention after the prosecution requested that the case be adjourned
for two more months for further enquiry and legal advice.
The prosecutor said that since the previous hearing on Sept
7, investigators had looked for bank accounts of the two defendants, but found
just one belonging to Papal-latoc. Gallego has no bank account.
Previously, she said the prosecution was planning to file an
additional charge of money laundering against the two Filipinas for allegedly
getting a tiny percentage of the money paid by foreign clients for the pimping
services by Wong’s company.
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