13 Indo DHs arrested in $35m money laundering case

By The SUN

The DHs were paid between $1k and $2.5k each to open dummy bank accounts for the syndicate

Police again warned the public Tuesday not to get involved in money laundering, saying it is a serious crime for which the maximum penalty is $5 million fine and 14 years in jail.

The warning was issued as investigators disclosed the arrest of 18 people, including 13 Indonesian domestic helpers, in connection with the alleged laundering of some $35 million in crime proceeds.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

The police said at a press conference that the illicit operation which was conducted through the use of at least 33 dummy bank accounts, started two years ago.

The syndicate lured the Indonesian helpers into opening new bank accounts which were then used to launder dirty money.

BUY NOW PRESS HERE

Police said the account holders were paid between $1,000 to $2,500 each to open the accounts and then hand over their ATM cards and passcodes.

Once this was done, scam victims were told to deposit money into these accounts, which the syndicate promptly withdrew. To keep the police at bay and avoid detection the scammers also made multiple transactions with the bank.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Police said the laundering operation was carried out between May 2021 and October 2022, while the coronavirus pandemic was raging. Of the $35 million that was laundered during this period, $11million was traced to 25 online romance scams, two email scams and two investment scams.

The biggest amount involved was the more than $2.7 million that a middle-aged female manager of a logistics company had transferred to a fraudster who pretended to be a doctor and wooed her.

BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS NOW! PRESS FOR DETAILS

The operation, called “Justicenet”, led to the arrest of two men, one Nigerian and another Bengali, who both hold recognizance dcouments, and 16 Indonesian women aged 19 to 49, among whom 13 are FDWs.

HOW TO AVAIL? PRESS HERE

The men and three of the women were said to be key members of the money laundering ring while the FDWs held the dummy bank accounts.

The FDWs were subsequently released on bail and were told to report back to the police in mid-April while the five other suspects were still being investigated as of Tuesday night.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE 

Police said they were still tracking the flow of money and did not rule out further arrests.

PADALA NA!

Call us!

PRESS FOR DETAILS

CALL US!

Pilipinang nagbakasyon, nabawi ang maleta 9 na araw matapos mawala

Ni Daisy CL Mandap

 

Ang nawawalang bag ni J Palomar ay nakita 9 na araw matapos siyang dumating sa HK

Sirang sira ang bagong taon ni J Palomar dahil hindi dumating sa Hong Kong kasabay niya ang maleta niyang isinakay sa eroplano ng Cebu Pacific mula pa sa Iloilo noong Dec. 31.

Agad niya itong nireklamo sa Hong Kong International Airport pagdating pero hindi agad nalaman kung ano ang nangyari sa kanyang maleta.

BUY NOW PRESS HERE

Nitong January 6 ay humingi na siya ng tulong sa The SUN dahil lagi na lang daw sa “live chat” ng Cebu Pacific sa internet siya pumapasok tuwing magtangka siyang magtanong tungkol sa nawawala niyang bagahe, at “wala naman daw silang magagawa,” sabi niya.

“Ano po kaya ang gagawin ko?”, daing niya. “Stressed na stressed po ako sa mga gamit ko sa bagahe ko.”

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Mga personal na gamit daw ang karamihan sa laman ng maleta niya. “Hindi naman kamahalan pero nanghihinayang pa rin ako,” dagdag niya.

Isang linggo din daw siyang hindi makatulog nang maayos dahil tuwing may gusto siyang gamitin at maalala niyang nasa maleta niya iyon ay napapaiyak siya dahil naiisip niyang madami na naman siyang kailangang bilhin ulit.

Ang mas ikinasasama niya ng loob ay ni wala man lang daw taga Cebu Pacific ang agarang sumagot sa kanya gayong isang linggo mahigit nang nawawala ang gamit niya.

Agad namang isinulat ng The SUN sa Cebu Pacific ang tungkol sa reklamo niya, at pinayuhan siyang pumunta sa assistance to nationals section ng Konsulado para din magpatulong. Ayon kay Palomar, agad din daw nag email ang Konsulado sa airline para I follow-up yung kaso niya.

BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS NOW! PRESS FOR DETAILS

Kanina, pagkatapos ng siyam na araw na puno siya ng agam-agam, ay nakatanggap rin sa wakas si Palomar ng sagot mula sa Cebu Pacific, na may kalakip na litrato ng nawaglit niyang bagahe.

Sabi sa kanilang email: “We found one tagoff baggage in Manila possible belongs to you (sic). Please refer to photo below for your reference.”

HOW TO AVAIL? PRESS HERE

“Please inform us if confirm this bag belongs to you and we would inform Manila send to Hong Kong.”

Walang paumanhin na kalakip ang mensahe, at lalong walang alok na bayaran siya sa aberyang idinulot ng pagkawala ng kanyang bagahe, hindi katulad sa ibang kumpanya na agad na humihingi ng dispensa sa ganitong mga sitwasyon.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE 

Napag-isip tuloy si Palomar na manghingi ng danyos sa airline lalo na nang may mabasa siya na kapag lumampas sa 24 oras na di naibabalik ang bagahe ay dapat siyang bayaran.

Pero sa ngayon, ang mahalaga sa kanya ay maibabalik na ang kanyang nawaglit na maleta.

PADALA NA!

Call us!

PRESS FOR DETAILS

CALL US!

Filipina fired on spot mulls filing discrimination suit vs employer

By The SUN

 

Jhen (in red) spent two days outside Queen Mary Hospital last year, along with fellow Pinay patient

On Feb. 14 last year, Jhen tested positive for Covid-19 and her employers immediately told her to leave their house in Mid-Levels. It was the height of the fifth and deadliest wave of the pandemic in Hong Kong, and her employers were scared she could infect them and their two young children.

Jhen was given $100 and told to go to Queen Mary Hospital in Pokfulam. But after confirmatory tests at the hospital showed she had Covid-19, Jhen and another infected Filipina were asked to leave, with staff there saying they could not be admitted without a referral. 

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Not knowing where to go, the two camped outside the hospital for two days in the dead of winter, and managed to survive only on food donations from strangers who dropped them off before scampering away.\

Fast forward to yesterday, when Jhen was told by the same employers she had returned to after spending more than a month in isolation between February and March last year, to pack her things and go.

BUY NOW PRESS HERE

No money was paid to her, and the employers said they would settle all their monetary obligations through their recruitment agency.

Now Jhen is wondering whether she could still pursue a claim for her employer’s failure to pay her any salary for the time she spent in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

She also recalled getting a deduction in her salary for the two days that she had a fever and was unable to work, about three months into her employment.

Most importantly, she wants to find out if she could still pursue a claim for disability discrimination against her employers for driving her away after learning that she had come down with the coronavirus.

BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS NOW! PRESS FOR DETAILS

Jhen said she was forced to return to her employers then as she had just moved in with them, and she badly needed money to send to her family back in the Philippines. Nobody also advised her on her options, as the rapidly spreading virus was wreaking havoc across the city.

She said she wants these matters resolved before going to her employment agency to settle her claims against her employer.

HOW TO AVAIL? PRESS HERE

While she was taken aback by her employer’s decision to fire her on the spot after returning from her day-off, Jhen said it was not exactly smooth sailing between them for the past several weeks. 

Her female employer had been complaining recently about missing “small things” around the house, and had hinted that Jhen and a second Filipina helper in their employ were behind the losses.

As a result, the two helpers were told to present their bags for inspection each time they left the house for their days off.

Stung, Jhen once told her employer that “pumunta po kami dito sa Hong Kong para magtrabaho at hindi magnakaw” (we came to Hong Kong to work and not steal), an answer that did not sit well with their bosses. 

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE 

“Ang sabi, mahilig daw kaming makipagtalo, pero sabi ko naman sinasagot lang namin ang pambibintang niya,” said Jhen. (They said we like to argue but I said replied that we were just responding to their accusations).

After some of the supposed missing items surfaced the employer would just keep quiet and not acknowledge that she had done them wrong by falsely accusing them of taking things from the house.

There were other irritants, said Jhen, like the cramped space where she and her companion had to sleep at night. She said she took photos of their room, but her male employer ordered her to delete them when she found them in her mobile phone.

The employer also found her diaries, and had accused her of setting them up for a claim.

While she did not consider this initially, Jhen now does plan to claim what is due her under the law. Being wronged twice is making her feel she now has to take action to get the relief that she deserves.

PADALA NA!

Call us!

PRESS FOR DETAILS

CALL US!

HK resumes mass border crossing with mainland, Macau

By The SUN

 

Thousands of people were already at Lok Ma Chau border before the gates opened on Sunday
(Photo from China Daily)

Travel between Hong Kong and the mainland – and Macau - returned to near-normal starting Sunday, Jan. 8, with the drastic easing of anti-pandemic restrictions on either side of the border.

Immigration figures showed about 45,000 people had crossed between Hong Kong and the mainland by 8pm on Sunday, when quarantine-free travel was allowed for the first time in three years. About 33,000 of them were travelers from Hong Kong.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Up to 50,000 slots were opened for people who made prior bookings to use any of the four land border crossings, while a further 10,000 were expected to enter via air or sea.

Residents on either side need not book their places if they were returning home, which theoretically would have doubled the quota initially set for the border crossings.

BUY NOW PRESS HERE

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

All that was required for travelers to the mainland from Hong Kong was a negative PCR test result taken within 48 hours of departure from the city. Coming in, a negative antigen test result would suffice.

There was no corresponding statistic on the number of people who entered Macau from Hong Kong on the day travelers from the city were no longer required to present a negative result for a Covid-19 test. 

BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS NOW! PRESS FOR DETAILS

HOW TO AVAIL? PRESS HERE

As with those coming from the mainland, people entering Hong Kong from Macau still need to present a negative result for a rapid test.

Limited ferry service was resumed between the two places for the first time in three years, while the Golden Bus fleet that take passengers from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai started its 24-hour operation again.

CE Lee in inspection tour at Lok Ma Chau

Chief Executive John Lee led a group of officials in observing the initial flow of passengers at the border crossings and afterwards said the process had been smooth, and that there was no need to increase the 50,000 quota just yet.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Lok Ma Chau check point, CE Lee said the quota was not fully booked yet over the Lunar New Year.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE 

"As of today, the quota isn't fully booked. Even for Lunar New Year's Eve, there's still about a thousand left on the quota," Lee said.

But he said he will continue to monitor the situation and liaise with Guangzhou and Shenzhen authorities to see when the quota can be reviewed, adding he hoped travel can eventually resume without any restrictions.

A Hong Kong traveler gets emotional welcome at Futian port in Shenzhen (China Daily) 

Many of those who crossed the border under the newly relaxed rules were Hong Kong residents anxious to visit family members in the mainland whom they hadn’t seen since the pandemic broke out in early 2020. 

They had hesitated to visit previously because of the strict testing, quarantine and isolation measures that the mainland had adopted in pursuit of its zero-infection policy.

PADALA NA!

Call us!

PRESS FOR DETAILS

CALL US!