By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Ylagan angrily asks outside the District Court building why her picture was being taken |
Former employment agency owner Ester Ylagan appeared in the District Court for the first time to face four counts of laundering a total of $5.7 million over a seven-month period in 2016.
At the application of Ylagan’s lawyer appointed by the Legal Aid Department, Judge Justin Ko King-sau adjourned the case to Nov 8 for further legal advice. Her bail of $40,000 was extended under the same terms.
Before this, Judge Ko asked Ylagan if she wished to continue being assisted by a Tagalog interpreter in succeeding hearings and she said yes.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Outside the court building, Ylagan showed displeasure at having her picture taken, and even demanded an explanation. She left after being told that it was not illegal, and that it was in the public interest as she was facing multiple counts of a serious offence.
The case was transferred to the District Court on Aug 30,
after Ylagan was read the charges against her at
The four charges against her allegedly took place between Jan 29 to Jul 8, 2016, and involved a series of transactions, all in violation of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
In the first charge, Ylagan is accused of “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence” on Jan 29 and May 5, 2016, in the sum of HK$2,633,181.52 and US$44,658 (HK$347,439). The total sum of HK$2,980,620 was dealt with in cash.
The second count allegedly happened between May 12 to 23, 2016, during which the total sum of USD300,00 (HK2,334,000) was moved by Ylagan from an account with Standard Chartered Bank.
In the third count, Ylagan is accused with dealing with money believed to be proceeds from a crime, amounting to US$10,055 (HK$78,227) between May 25 and 26, 2016.
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The last charge accuses Ylagan of handling a total amount of US$50,000 (HK$389,000), knowing it to be proceeds of a crime, on Jul 8, 2016.
The last two transactions were made using an account Ylagan held at HSBC.
The dates of the alleged offenses coincided with job
recruitments to
At the time, Emry’s was the biggest recruitment firm for
Filipino domestic workers in
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
Relying on Emry’s solid reputation in the business, hundreds of Filipino migrant workers were enticed to apply for the jobs advertised by Ylagan in a now-defunct Filipino community newspaper, for which each applicant was charged $10,000 or $15,000.
The jobs all turned out to be bogus, but before the applicants could react, Ylagan went to the police to complain against a certain William Clinton Evans who allegedly duped her of $4.19 million.
This was money she had allegedly collected from the job applicants at his instigation, and had sent to him before the man disappeared.
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| Ylagan is shown counting money paid by an applicant for one of the bogus jobs in this photo from 2016 |
Ylagan also told police in a statement that it was Evans,
whom she had met only online, who offered to place her applicants in the
Her unseen partner then stopped communicating with her, and
Ylagan fled to the
Lawyers acting for the complainants subsequently reported
uncovering documents showing Ylagan and several other people close to her had
sent millions of dollars to several countries as far apart as
In December 2017 Ylagan returned to
But she was dismayed to find later that no legal representation was made on her behalf, despite her having forked out proceeds from her mandatory provident fund to cover the court costs.
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| PADALA NA! |
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