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| An OFW complainant took this picture of Biscocho's arrest in Nov last year |
Two money laundering charges involving more than $600,000 were
filed in Kwun Tong court today, Jun 18, against a Filipina domestic helper who worked as staff of a
recruitment agency, including one in which her employer is her co-accused.
Both women also now face a total of 24 counts of duping Filipino
job applicants, after five similar charges of “applying a false trade
description” were added to 19 other counts filed against them earlier.
The two, Filipina Marijane Biscocho, 42; along with her
employer, Hong Kong resident Lennis Ebrahim, 56, allegedly collected hundreds
of thousands of dollars from the applicants for fake jobs in Hong Kong and
Macau.
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The cases against the two will now be moved to the
District Court due to their serious nature, and the next hearing will be on Jul 9.
The prosecution charged that between June 17, 2018 and Nov
12, 2019, Biscocho and Ebrahim deposited in a Hang Seng Bank savings account a
total of $127,000, which was believed to be proceeds of a crime.
Between Sep 23, 2018 and Jun 16, 2019, Biscocho also
allegedly deposited in a Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp saving account a
total of $510,500, which again, is suspected to be have come from a criminal
act.
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In addition, Biscocho was charged with breach of condition
of stay for working as a recruitment staff of Ebrahim in her WHT Consulting
Company in Kwun Tong between Oct 1, 2018 and Sept 17, 2019.
She did so while on a domestic worker visa that was valid
until Nov 12, 2019, the prosecution said.
In all, Biscocho is facing 26 charges in Kwun Tong Court Macau to OFWs and their relatives, who
paid fees of between $3,000 to $12,000 each.
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| In an unusual move, Customs & Excise is prosecuting the illegal recruitment cases, citing trade violation |
The tall and slim Ebrahim appeared stronger in today’s
hearing, compared with her previous appearance on May 21, when she looked weak
and had to be helped to the defendant’s stand by a male companion.
Her lawyer said she wanted the charges to be read to her in
Chinese as she was born in Hong Kong and grew
up and went to school in the city.
Charges 1 to 19, which the prosecutor said contained
amendments, and the seven additional charges were read to both defendants on
orders of Chui.
The alleged victims in earlier cases accused Ebrahim,
Biscocho and fellow Filipina Nympha Lumatac of collecting about $180,000 from
them for such jobs as printers, drivers, waiters and factory workers in Hong
Kong and Macau , that turned out to
be non-existent.
Lumatac left Hong Kong for home via Macau before
the Customs & Excise Department took over the case and arrested Biscocho
and Ebrahim last November.
Magistrate Ivy Chui adjourned the case and told both
defendants to appear at the next hearing at the District Court.
She advised Biscocho, who is in custody, to better engage a
private lawyer, or get Legal Aid to prepare her for trial.
The magistrate also told Ebrahim to prepare, but extended
her bail and allowed her to report to the Kwun Tong police only once a week due
to her health condition.
Her lawyer said in previous hearings that Ebrahim could not
go to court because a heart ailment caused her breathing difficulty.
