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| Wong Nai Chung tennis courts (Google Maps photo) |
The last of the three Filipinas charged with conspiracy to defraud for booking public tennis courts on behalf of other people, was jailed for six months today after she changed her mind and pleaded guilty at Shatin Court.
D.G. Manaligod, 32 years old, was scheduled to stand trial today after she initially denied
the charge on March 15 that she conspired with a
certain L. M. Caceres to defraud the Director of Leisure and Cultural
Services and his officers by booking tennis courts on his behalf between Sept.
27, 2023 and June 21, 2024.
By “dishonestly and
falsely representing” that she was the user of the tennis courts, Manaligod
induced the director and his officers “to act contrary to their public duty,“
the charge added.
This was contrary
to Common Law and punishable under section 159C(6) of the Crimes Ordinance which prescribes a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.
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With her conviction, Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong
ordered that Manaligod’s bail money of $500 be returned to her.
She had earlier pleaded
not guilty and parted ways with co-accused H. Habungan, aged 43, and A. Mendoza,
63, who were sentenced also by Magistrate Cheang last April 7 to jail terms
after admitting to the crime last March 15.
Habungan was jailed for six months after she admitted to
conspiring with a certain J. Mosqueda in securing permission from the LCSD director and his officers to use public tennis courts
“under circumstances which they would not otherwise have granted.”
Mendoza was jailed for four months after she admitted conspiring with a certain G. Foster between Sept. 27 2023 and June 12, 2024 by in committing the same offence.
