Two Filipina domestic helpers who were both arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport as they were preparing to fly to Manila, had their money laundering cases heard together at the Eastern Court today, even if the charges against them were filed separately.
Both Rochel Fuentes, 35 years old, and Marcela Awingan, 38, face a charge each of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds
of indictable offense, a violation of the Organized and Serious Crime
Ordinance.
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| PINDUTIN PARA DETALYE |
The prosecutor said the two cases would be
consolidated as the money involved was part of a bigger case of fraud.
She also asked Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui to adjourn the case as prosecutors needed
additional legal advice from the Justice Department.'
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
Magistrate Chui scheduled the next hearing for both cases for May 17.
As they had no bail application, they were returned to jail custody.
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| TAWAG NA! |
Fuentes was accused of money laundering because of the
$666,300 deposited into her account in
the Standard Chartered Bank from April 4, 2023 to April 6, 2023, and then
withdrawn.
She dealt with the money, “knowing or having reasonable
grounds to believe that property… in whole or in part directly or indirectly
represented any person’s proceeds of an indictable offense,” the police complaint
stated.
Fuentes was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport before she could board her flight to Manila on Jan. 26 this year. She has been detained since.
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| PINDUTIN ITO |
Awingan, on the other hand, was similarly charged, this time
accused of dealing with a total of $357,000 that passed through her Standard
Chartered Bank account as deposits and withdrawals within one day, April 11.
She was seven months pregnant when she was arrested at HK Airport on Jan. 28. Her counsel said she was leaving for the Philippines to give birth there.
Her initial offer to post $1,000 bail was rejected.
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| PADALA NA! |
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