Court ends Filipino’s effort to delay immigration, money laundering cases

 

Accused is charged with lending his identity to someone for a fee

A Filipino accused of letting someone else use his permanent resident ID to get a job and then collecting payment in return, is now detained in jail to await his trial after a Shatin magistrate entered a not guilty plea for him.

Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong remanded Ricardo de Austria, 53 years old, in jail custody after noting that he had asked for adjournments in 10 previous hearings, which were granted because he kept presenting new lawyers who needed time to study his case.

“Let’s see if staying in jail will make you more efficient,” Magistrate Cheang said in a hearing Friday (Aug. 30), chiding  de Austria for wasting the court’s time.

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He also increased de Austria’s bail to $50,000 in cash from $1,000, with conditions such as surrender of his Philippine passport, reporting to police regularly and not leaving his current address without informing the police one day ahead.

“You should be able to afford that,” Magistrate Cheang said, noting that  de Austria previously hired private lawyers to request three of the 10 adjournments.

Since the defendant was unable to post the new bail, he was ordered detained until his next court appearance which has been set down on Nov. 4 for a pre-trial review. The actual trial is scheduled for Nov. 18-19.

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De Austria is charged, along with fellow Filipino Leila Fonte, of transferring an identity card to another person, which is punishable under section 7AA(1)(a) of the Registration of Persons Ordinance.

He is accused of lending his HKID card to Fonte in 2020; the card was subsequently used by Fonte’s asylum seeker-boyfriend to get a job.

He is also charged, along with Fonte, of dealing with property that represents proceeds from a crime, a violation of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, for the $414,781.33 deposited into his Hang Seng Bank account between Aug. 6, 2020 and Sept. 7, 2022.

The amount represented payment to de Austria for the use of his HKID.

Fonte was jailed for three years last May after pleading guilty to eight offenses, including allowing her HKID card to be used by a former domestic helper who was among those rounded up in an anti-illegal work crackdown of the Immigration Department.

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$5k fixed penalty to be imposed on people feeding wild pigeons from tomorrow

 

You will get ticketed for $5k if you're caught feeding these birds from tomorrow

Starting from tomorrow, Sept. 1, anyone caught illegally feeding wild animals or feral pigeons will be issued a fixed penalty ticket of $5,000.

The prohibition contained in the Wild Animals Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 took effect on August 1, but violators were merely given verbal warnings while the government undertook information and education campaign on the new law.

The Amendment Ordinance expands the territory-wide prohibition on feeding wild animals to cover feral pigeons, and provides a fixed penalty of $5,000 which could rise to a maximum of $100,000 on indictment.

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The law aims to step up curbs on illegal feeding activities, which is seen to encourage wild birds to flock to urban areas from their natural habitat, and forego feeding by themselves. Bird droppings are also regarded as a nuisance, and could lead to the spread of disease.

Since the law took effect starting this month, the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department has been collaborating with various agencies in stepping up patrols throughout Hong Kong, especially in places with records of previous illegal feeding activities.

The AFCD has also set up an inter-departmental working group which regularly reviews and discusses enforcement action against illegal feeding and arranges joint enforcement operations when necessary.

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Members of the public may call 1823 to report any suspected illegal feeding of wild animals or feral pigeons.

At the same time, the AFCD has launched a series of activities with the theme of "All For No Feeding", which includes setting up educational booths in various districts, distributing leaflets, and collaborating with legislators and local communities to promote the message.

These efforts aim to inform the public about the negative impact of feeding wild animals and feral pigeons, while publicising the latest feeding ban and penalties.

Relevant information has also been uploaded to the AFCD webpage: (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/conservation/con_fau/con_fau_wild_the.html).

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13 people arrested in 2-day anti-illegal work raids

 

One of the women suspected of doing illegal work is loaded onto an Immigration van

A total of 13 people were arrested in the latest anti-illegal work operations conducted by Immigration operatives in the  past two days, August 28 and 29.

Those arrested comprised 12 suspected illegal workers and one alleged employer.

In the first day of operations, 12 premises were targeted, both residential and commercial, including those under renovation.

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Six suspected illegal workers comprising two men and four women, aged 29 to 50, were arrested. One of the women was a recognizance form holder who was also found in possession of forged Hong Kong ID cards.

In a separate operation in Eastern District, 33 locations were targeted, and six suspected illegal workers and one employer were arrested.

The alleged illegal workers comprised four men and two women, aged 26 to 59. A woman aged 43 was also arrested on suspicion of hiring them.

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Immigration again warned that anyone who contravenes a condition of stay shall be guilty of an offence.

These include tourists, FDHs and those on employment contracts. Tourists are not allowed to take up any work, paid or unpaid, while those on employment visas are not permitted to work elsewhere, apart from what is stated in their visas.

Offenders face a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of $50,000.

Illegal immigrants, overstayers or those subject of a removal or deportation order such as asylum seekers, face a heftier penalty if they are found to have engaged in illegal work. The maximum penalty prescribed in such cases if three years in jail and $50,000 in fine.

Possessing or using a forged HKID card or one pertaining to another person is punishable with up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $100,000.

Employers of illegal workers could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined a maximum of $500,000.

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3 OFWs accused of illegal work by teaching tennis

 

Wong Nai Chung tennis courts (Google Maps photo)

Three Filipinas have found themselves answering criminal charges filed by the Immigration Department at Shatin Court, accusing them of providing tennis coaching services while limited by their visa condition to work solely as domestic helpers at their employers’ homes.

The three – Ammar Mendoza, 62 years old; Aurorita Amba, aged 45; and Dolly Gay Manaligod, 31 --appeared Thursday (Aug. 30) before Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong, charged with breach of condition of stay, a violation of the Immigration Ordinance.

Mendoza was accused of working illegally between Oct. 1, 2023 and July 16 this year, having joined a business providing tennis coaching services without the authority of the Immigration director.

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She was also slapped with an additional charge of lying to an Immigration officer for saying that she would work and live in her employer’s residence.

Her case was adjourned to Nov. 7.

She was freed on cash bail of $1,000.

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Amba, on the other hand was accused of working illegally between Oct. 1, 2023 and July 16 this year. Her case was adjourned to Nov. 7; she was freed on bail of $500.

Manaligod faced a similar charge -- working illegally from October 2023 and May 2024. Her case was also adjourned to Nov. 7; she was freed on bail of $500.

Under Immigration laws, FDHs cannot take up work, whether paid or unpaid, apart from the domestic work they are supposed to perform at the contractual address of their employers.

It was not clear if the three cases are connected to the arrest last July 13 of three persons during a joint operation conducted by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the police and Immigration Department at the tennis courts in Wong Nai Chung Road in Wanchai and Victoria Park.

A female FDH was reported to be among those arrested for selling tennis court booking permits; she was also suspected of breaching her condition of stay by allegedly transferring permits for the tennis court she booked in exchange for rewards.

Also among those arrested was someone suspected of using and possessing another person’s Hong Kong identity card without reasonable excuse, which also violated Immigration laws.

LCSD said further arrests cannot be ruled out as a result of these cases.

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2 Pinays cleared of illegal work raps

 

The case was tried at Shatin Court

Two Filipina domestic helpers were acquitted today after a trial at Shatin Court, of working illegally in a restaurant in Central.

Marlyne Ogues, 35 years old, and Mary Jane Bienes, 43, dabbed tears of joy as they listened to the verdict of Deputy Magistrate Tai Kwan-hang, who said the evidence failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they breached their condition of stay which prohibits domestic helpers from doing work other than specified in their contracts.

Magistrate Tai raised doubts about their guilt when he noted that they were just standing idly when found by Immigration officers in the restaurant, which had its own three workers.

He also gave credence to their claim that they were in the restaurant because they had asked for permission from the restaurant’s owner, who was Ogues’s employer under a domestic helper contract approved by the Immigration Department, to use its kitchen to prepare food for their group’s outing.

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Their co-accused, Bangladeshi Lili Akther, aged 24, was also acquitted of working illegally with an expired DH visa, but was found guilty of overstaying for one year and five months in violation of the Immigration Ordinance.

Magistrate Tai sentenced her to four weeks in prison, suspended for 15 months, for being in Hong Kong on May 20, 2024 when she was supposed to have left two weeks after her domestic helper contract was terminated on Dec. 3, 2022.

The three were arrested by Immigration officers last May 20 in a restaurant in Central, in one of the anti-illegal worker operations  conducted by the Immigration Department on May 20-23.

During these operations, Immigration officers raided 165 target locations including massage parlors, premises under renovation and restaurants. Arrested with them were four men and one woman suspected of employing illegal workers.

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Filipina asks High Court to reverse guilty plea in drug trafficking case

 

A full hearing of the case is set on Sept 20 at the High Court (File)

In an unusual application, a Filipina who was set to be sentenced for drug trafficking instead asked the High Court today, Thursday, to allow her to reverse her guilty plea.

A lawyer for Liza D. Soriano, 44, a former domestic helper, said she was not in her proper state of mind the night before she entered a guilty plea at Eastern Court on Nov. 23 last year.

Barrister Peter Pannu also told the court that there was sufficient evidence that Soriano had merely agreed to a friend’s request to pick up the package containing nearly one kilo of the drug known as ice, without knowing what it contained.

She was arrested by customs operatives on Jul 28, 2022 in front of a building in Sai Ying Pun after she picked up the parcel containing the drugs.

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“This case is crying out for a day in court,” said Pannu.

Senior Public Prosecutor Raymond Chow who opposed the application said he was ready to examine Soriano about her claim, arguing, among other things, that she had a lot of time to reconsider her plea but only did so just before her scheduled sentencing.

After hearing from both counsel, Recorder Derek Chan, S.C., decided to reset the case to Sept. 20, and gave Soriano until Sept. 13 to submit additional affidavits if she wished, to support her application.

She was remanded in custody until then.

In arguing for the application, Pannu cited a WhatsApp message on Jul 13, 2022 between Soriano and her friend, Jean, a fellow Filipina, in which the latter asked the defendant to pick up “something” for her husband, for which she would be paid between $1,000 and $1,500.

Soriano, who was reportedly made to understand that she was picking up mobile phones, replied in Filipino that there was no need to pay her so much as she was  already earning money from babysitting. “$500 is ok with me,” she said.

Pannu said this showed Soriano’s innocence, as no drug trafficker would voluntarily offer to to be paid a lot less money for something as dangerous a task.

But when she went to do the bidding, nobody showed up with the package. Pannu said this was a “trial run” for the actual pickup a few days later, during which Soriano was arrested.

The next day, Jean turned on the “disappearing messages” in their WhatsApp conversation so nothing more was recorded in Soriano’s phone about the subsequent pick-up.

Pannu said that after her arrest, Soriano readily gave the arresting officers the password to her phone, which again indicated she was not complicit to the offense. He said it was Jean’s husband, said to be of African descent, who was the real drug trafficker.

Chow for his part said Soriano had “months to change her plea” but did not do so,  and that it was not fair to say that the defense counsel made her plead guilty to the charge.

He also argued that it was normal for any defendant about to be arraigned to feel anxious the night before.

“She did intend to plead guilty,” he said. “It was only on hindsight that she decided to change her plea.”

Nevertheless, he agreed that if he is proved wrong, Soriano should have her day in court.

Pannu had argued that the overriding consideration in the case should be that the interest of justice is served.

If convicted of drug trafficking, Soriano could face the maximum sentence of life imprisonment and $5 million fine.

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Alleged illegal worker detained; prosecutor asked why employer not charged

 

The bar is on first floor of building on D'Aguilar St. (Photo from Google Maps) 

A Filipino caught while allegedly working illegally as a waiter in a bar in Lan Kwai Fong, was detained today after appearing at Eastern Court, but a bigger question was raised about why the owner of the place was not charged.

Melben Tamayor, 40 years old and holder of a recognizance form that identifies him as an asylum seeker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of taking employment while being a person against whom a removal order is in force.

He was arrested at the Tai Tai cocktail bar on D’Aguilar St. in Central last Dec. 29, 2023 when police raided the place.

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Tamayor's lawyer offered a cash bail of $1,000 for his temporary liberty, with conditions such as surrendering his Philippine passport, reporting to police regularly and not leaving Hong Kong until the pre-trial review on Oct. 22.

But Principal Magistrate Don So rejected the offer and, after confirming with the lawyer that this offense is punishable by up to 15 months in prison, revoked Tamayor’s previous police bail of $500 and remanded him in jail custody.

Tamayor appeared in court with Nepalese Gupta Wagle Cheetri, 24, who also pleaded not guilty to charges of selling liquor without a license and possession of liquor for sale or supply without a license, both of which violate the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance. He was freed on $500 bail.

It was Wagle Cheetri, after asking for permission to speak, who led Magistrate So to ask the prosecutor if the owner of the restaurant would also be called.

He claimed that he was just working at the restaurant, and did not know that its liquor license had expired in April 2023 when he was caught eight months later serving three bottles of beer to undercover police officers and had 130 cans and bottles of beer stocked in the premises.

When the prosecutor said the owner will be called to testify during the trial, Magistrate So asked her: “So why are you not prosecuting the license owner?”

The prosecutor promised to look into it.

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Probation for 2 students who admitted shoplifting

 

Shop where theft happened (Google Maps photo)

The two Filipina students who pleaded guilty last Aug. 14 to shoplifting clothes at an H&M store in Causeway Bay, were placed on probation today for 12 months.

P. Basiuang, 20 years old, and L.J. Centeno, aged 18, were also asked to each pay $500 in court costs, taken from their bail money.

Eastern Court Principal Magistrate Don So told them to “listen to your probation officer.”

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If not, he warned, “I will send you to jail.”

Before closing the case, he told them to go straight to the probation office on the 12th floor of the Eastern Court building to begin their process of rehabilitation through counselling and supervision.

The two had earlier admitted that they stole two black T-shirts, one black vest, one grey T-shirt, one pair of white socks, one pair of black pants and one pair of beige socks at the H&M store at the Fashion Walk on Paterson St. in Causeway Bay last April 15.

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Consulate warns OFWs against illegal recruitment to Poland, Hungary

First page of the PCG advisory

The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has again warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) against moving to a third country, specifically Poland and Hungary, as this violates the Philippines’ labor laws.

In an advisory posted on Facebook yesterday, the Consulate warned OFWs against an “illegal recruitment scheme that offers employment in Central Europe, particularly in Hungary and Poland.”

The people behind the alleged illegal recruitment are said to charge exorbitant fees and withhold the applicant’s passport to compel them to pursue their job applications to the two European countries.

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The Consulate reminded the public of Philippine regulations that forbid third-country deployment, meaning all overseas recruitment of Filipinos must be done by licensed recruitment agencies, to ensure they will be deployed only to countries where their rights are protected.

Despite such law, however, many OFWs still manage to move to other countries which offer better pay and the opportunity to gain residency, unlike in places like Hong Kong where they are not allowed permanent residency, no matter how long they have worked.

With a surge in demand for care workers in many countries in Europe and other places like Japan because of their ageing population, many OFWs in Asia are setting their sights further afield.

Lately, a number of OFWs in Hong Kong have managed to move to European countries which until recently was off-limits to them because of language, qualification and other constraints, such as the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and even the United Kingdom.

Despite these, warnings abound about the pitfalls of taking this plunge, largely because of the proliferation of unscrupulous agencies that send them on to a strange place without ensuring that their rights and welfare are protected.

PCG warns, 3rd country deployment is illegal

A recent series of articles published by Al Jazeera exposed the myriad of problems faced by Filipinos who went to Poland for work without the benefit of an employment contract duly processed in the Philippines.

In an interview conducted with 22 Filipinas there, nearly all claimed to have suffered exploitation in the form of wage theft, unreasonable salary deductions, unlawful termination and passport confiscation, apart from being forced to sign documents in a language they did not understand.

They reported being paid only a tiny fraction of the salary promised them, even after paying recruitment fees as high as US$5,000 or around HK$40,000.

(see the story here: https://www.sunwebhk.com/2024/04/after-leaving-grind-in-asia-filipino.html).

The Migrant Workers Office in Hong Kong advises those who want to ensure that they are placed legally in a foreign country to check on this website that lists the agencies that have approved job offers in countries abroad: https://dmw.gov.ph/approved-job-orders.

The link below lists all the recruitment agencies licensed to deploy Filipinos for work abroad: https://dmw.gov.ph/licensed-recruitment-agencies

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Serial offender jailed 1 month for stealing chocolates

 

Store where chocolates were stolen (Photo from Google Maps)

A Filipino who has had 12 convictions, eight of them involving dishonesty, was sentenced to a month in jail today after he pleaded guilty at Eastern Court to stealing $524 worth of chocolates at a 7-Eleven store.

Roel Galanza, 41 years old, failed to appear at his last hearing and was ordered arrested by Principal Magistrate Don So, and his bail of $500 confiscated.

So also ordered the defendant to pay compensation to DFI Retail Group Holdings, which owns the North Point store where he stole the four boxes of chocolate on Dec. 19 last year.

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His duty lawyer said, however, that Galanza was unable to add to the bail that he had put up, to fully pay for what he stole.

In response, So set the compensation at $500, to be offset from the bail.

The defense lawyer said Galanza was forced to commit the offense because he was jobless and had no money.

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