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Elderly Pinay charged with laundering $700k

Posted on 16 October 2019 No comments

The Eastern Court was told Qazi was arrested when Ruttonjee staff alerted police

An elderly Filipina is facing a charge of money laundering in Eastern Court following the transfer of more than $700,000 into her Hang Seng Bank account from a Singapore woman’s bank account allegedly through an online scam.

The defendant, Shirina Amistad Qazi, was charged today, Oct 16, before Magistrate Bina Chainrai with dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence, a euphemism for money laundering.

The prosecution said Qazi, 61, was arrested on Saturday when staff at Ruttonjee Hospital in Wanchai who attended to her found out she was on the watch list and alerted police.

According to the particulars of the offense, between Sept 8 and Sept 15, 2015, cash totaling $731,731 moved in and out of the defendant’s Hang Seng Bank account.

The huge amount triggered an alert at the bank, which informed the authorities. Investigators traced the fund source as a Credit Suisse account owned by a Singapore woman named Miss Teh.

The prosecution said the account owner was a victim of a scam in which an email purportedly coming from her instructed Credit Suisse to transfer money into Qazi’s Hang Seng account. Several withdrawals were made from Qazi’s account after the transfer.

While the case was under investigation, Qazi disappeared on Jul 15 and put on the watch list on Aug 11. Her visit to Ruttonjee Hospital’s ER department for medical treatment on Oct 12 gave her away.

At the request of the defense counsel, Chainrai ordered the police to allow Qazi access to her mobile phone so she could call her family.

The magistrate adjourned the case until Nov 27 for legal advice and further investigation.

But Chainrai rejected Qazi’s bail application due to opposition from the prosecution, who said she had no travel document, had a previous conviction in 2011 and was a flight risk.

The defendant was remanded into custody.

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UPDATE: Long-term Filipino prisoner is back home after 26 years

Posted on 15 October 2019 No comments

Mario delos Reyes, who was freed after 26 years behind bars in Stanley Prison, was seen off at Hong Kong International Airport on Oct. 22 by Consul Paul Saret, who also checked him in for his flight and and handed over some farewell gifts from friends. Mario was met in Manila by his wife, Gigi, and two of their three children. Mario now spends his time in the family home in Nueva Ecija receiving family and friends, writing, and catching up with modern technology.

A week before his release, Delos Reyes was received by Consul General Raly Tejada in his office

Mario is set for releaseBy Vir B. Lumicao

Mario delos Reyes, released recently from Hong Kong’s maximum security Stanley Prison but detained again at the Castle Peak Immigration Centre in Tuen Mun, may be flying home soon.

An Immigration officer who escorted Delos Reyes, 62, to the Consulate on Tuesday, Oct 15, to secure his one-way travel document told Consulate officers he would confirm the schedule the next day and inform the PCG.

The officer was responding to Consul Paulo Saret's query on when he could hand Delos Reyes the presents from well-wishers, including The SUN, at the airport.

Delos Reyes went to the Consulate around 2pm, which will allow him to return to his country after spending 26 years in Stanley following his conviction in 1994 on a charge of conspiracy to murder.

Saret, head of the assistance to national section, signed the travel document right beside Delos Reyes, who was having a late lunch of KFC friend chicken at ATN. He was accompanied by two Filipina detainees at CIC and three Immigration escorts.

Consul Paulo Saret says PCG took only minutes to issue the travel document

It took ATN only a few minutes to issue Delos Reyes the travel document, said Saret.

After his lunch, he was invited to the office of Consul General Raly Tejada, who wished him well for his release from prison.

The visit to the Consulate was Delos Reyes’ first travel outside CIC since his transfer there upon his release from Stanley on Oct 5, he said. He was visibly cheerful to be with Consulate staff and other Filipinos who were wishing him well.

But, asked how he felt after his release from Stanley, his answer was blunt: “Eto, galit, dahil hindi ako pinauwi agad nang lumabas ako.”

Delos Reyes with friends, DSWD attache Beth Dy and ATN's Saret and Arnel Deluna

He said his family prepared a welcome party for him at their home in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, but were disappointed when they learned that he would not be flying back to Manila immediately.

“Akala nila ay makakauwi na ako, kasi wala na lang akong deportation order,” he said.

He said aside from the travel document, he is awaiting his release papers from Immigration’s word regarding a minor error in the typing of his family name.

He said on his Hong Kong ID, “delos” was spelled as one word, but in his Immigration records it was “de los”. He put the blame on the Hong Kong government for the mistake.

Delos Reyes, a contributor to The SUN even while behind bars, said he was not sure when his flight would be.It still depends on the Immigration Department, which will provide his air ticket, a PCG officer said..

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Associate of licensed employment agency convicted of overcharging helper

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Code of Practice for agencies forbid collecting more than the allowed commission

An associate of a licensed employment agency has been convicted and fined $3,000 in Kowloon City Court for overcharging a foreign domestic helper, the Labour Department said.

The Employment Agencies Administration investigated and prosecuted the associate of Best Ka Hei Employment Agency in Kowloon City after the helper complained she had been charged excessive commission.

The EAA gathered sufficient evidence to prove the offence, and Labour prosecuted the associate.

Hong Kong law states that a licensee or his associate, or a person purporting to act as such as licensee or associate, is not allowed to collect from a job seeker any fees other than a commission, which must not exceed 10% of the job seeker’s first monthly salary.

The Labour Department reminded agencies to operate in full compliance with the law and the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies at all times. Failure to do so may lead to prosecution and/or revocation of licence.

The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 that took effect on Feb 9, 2018, has raised the maximum penalty for overcharging job seekers to a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.

For enquiries or complaints about unlicensed operation or overcharging by agencies, call the EAA at 2115 3667, or visit its office at Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon.

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Helper in drug trial says she received parcel for ‘bisexual’ Pinay

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By Vir B. Lumicao

The accused Filipina says she accepted the parcel containing drugs for a 'bisexual' volleyball player

A domestic helper who is being tried for drug trafficking in the High Court said she did not know a DHL parcel that a “bisexual” fellow Filipina had asked her to receive contained 237 grams of methamphetamine valued at $334,530.

Defendant Analyn de Leon took the witness stand on Oct. 14 when she appeared at her trial on a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug before Judge Remedios D’Almada.

Earlier, Customs officer Lau Tik-yee, gave evidence on the events that led to the arrest of De Leon on May 4 during which he posed as a DHL man to deliver to her a parcel from Benin in Africa that contained the illegal drug.

The prosecution said De Leon was a last-minute recipient of the drug parcel that was sent to her employer’s address at Yoho Midtown estate in Yuen Long in May last year.

De Leon, on questioning by her counsel Oliver Davies, denied she ever used drugs in Hong Kong or back in the Philippines. She denied having any connections with drug suppliers or syndicates anywhere.

De Leon said she received the parcel at the request of Filipina fellow volleyball player named Adelaida whom she met at a one-day friendly league in Kowloon about three months before the delivery of the parcel.

She said Adelaida, who she described as a bisexual woman, allegedly said she was expecting a parcel containing a pair of shoes and a garment ordered from an online trader that was meant for another person.

When Davies asked De Leon if she had the chance to inspect the contents of the parcel, she said she did not bother to check because its wrapping had already been opened and it looked like rubbish. She said she didn’t know or think that there was drug in the parcel.

During cross-examination by Prosecutor Ken Ng, De Leon was asked about the long list of voice calls, chats and messages that she had with both Adelaida and “New” on two separate cell phones from Apr 13 to the evening just before the delivery of the parcel.

Ng asked her who New was, with whom De Leon had received and made calls as well as chatted on Whatsapp and on regular phone line. The defendant said New and Adelaida were one and the same person.

The defendant said Adelaida requested her to receive the parcel on her behalf in the last week of April 2018 because she would be in the Philippines on the expected delivery date.

De Leon said she agreed because her employer knew that she was into online business ordering merchandise from Zalora which she passed on to her friends at a mark-up. She said her employers were also ordering goods from the online store.

She said her orders were usually delivered to her boarding house but this time she had the parcel delivered to her employers’ house.

The trial continues.

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