A Filipina was jailed for nine months after she pleaded guilty to money laundering just before her trial began today at Eastern Court.
I. Maqueda, 55 years old, had earlier denied handling $312,497.50,
representing proceeds from a love scam, in violation of the Organized and
Serious Crimes Ordinance.
Deputy Magistrate Chung Wing-sze said the money was part of
the $2.4 million extracted from a local woman by a man she had met on Facebook
and managed to manipulate her into transfering various amounts to Maqueda’s Hang
Seng Bank account.
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That money was then taken in 25 withdrawals from Maqueda’s account
between Dec. 17, 2020 and Jan. 8, 2021, through her ATM card that she said she had
lent to a friend’s friend as a favor.
Magistrate Chung said she believed Maqueda’s claim that she
did not financially benefit from the laundering of crime money, but noted that
in a police interview after her arrest, she claimed that he had lost her ATM card
and did not report the loss.
She credited Maqueda for the fact there was no evidence she
knew her account was being used for money laundering and that the crime money did
not reach international banking channels.
In sentencing, Chung chose 12 months as starting point but gave
a one-fourth - instead of the full one-third -- discount for Maqeda’s guilty plea,
for a total sentence of nine months.
Since she had been in detention since her arrest in her
employer’s house eight months ago, Maqueda would be out of jail soon after good
behavior and holidays are taken into account.
Maqueda arrived in Hong Kong in 2003 to work as a domestic
helper. She is separated from her husband, and has raised three children who are
now adults.
