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| HSBC branch where incident was reported (Google Maps photo) |
An elderly Filipino facing a charge of “using a false instrument” after allegedly presenting fake documents purporting to show he had US$10 billion in deposits at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., was told he could apply for free lawyer’s services after he appeared unrepresented at the Eastern Court on Thursday, Sept. 11.
Acting Principal Magistrate David
Cheung told Ramon Revillosa Jr.,
69, to go to the Duty Lawyers Service at the court building after he failed to respond to a question of whether he wished to make a bail application. The elderly defendant has been in jail since his arrest last Feb. 10.
When Revillosa accepted the offer to avail of the services of a free counsel, the magistrate assumed that the defendant had reserved the right to a bail review and set a hearing on Sept. 19. By then, his new lawyer could make a new application for bail on his behalf, and cite the reasons why the court should allow him temporary liberty.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Magistrate Cheung also adjourned
the case to Nov. 6, as requested by the prosecutor, for further investigation.
He earlier noted that Revillosa was represented in previous
hearings by a private lawyer, apparently hired by the Philippine Consulate..
A routine auditing procedure, however, resulted in payments
to the solicitor firm beng suspended by the Consulate, according to
a source. Under Hong Kong law, legal services can be cut off if bills are not
paid.
Revillosa is alleged to have presented a bank capability
letter, guarantee letter and a certificate of balance, all purporting to have a
value of US$10 billion and issued by HSBC, which he “knew, or believed to be,
false”.
Using a false instrument is punishable under section 73 of
the Crimes Ordinance with up to 14 years in jail.
He was the only one charged, although he was arrested with a
Filipina woman lawyer, a Malaysian man, a Taiwanese man and a woman who used a
Hong Kong and Macau Travel Permit to enter Hong Kong.
Last June 28, the same magistrate ordered psychiatric tests to be
conducted on him in Siu Lam Hospital in Tuen Mun, which specializes in
psychiatric care, to find out if he was fit to plead or needed to be
hospitalized.
