By Vir B. Lumicao
 |
| Osias brought into HK 12 fellow Filipinos on fake FDH contracts |
A Filipina who owned a defunct employment agency in Hung Hom was
sentenced on Jul 24 to two years in jail for using fake documents to help 12 fellow
Filipinos stay in Hong Kong on foreign domestic helper visas.
Myrna Q. Osias, owner of D’Sun Employment Services which used to have its offices at Planet
Square in Hung Hom, pleaded guilty before District Court Judge Louisa Lai to
charges of forgery and conspiracy to defraud.
Five other Filipinos involved in the case had been convicted
earlier at the Magistrates Court of making false representation to an
immigration officer and breach of condition of stay.
In a media briefing conducted after Osias’ conviction, immigration
officers said the Filipina made up false employers, used illegally obtained
copies of Hong Kong identification cards and forged documents to help the
Filipinos obtain domestic helper visas.
The activities of Osias, a 55-year-old Hong Kong resident,
had been under Immigration scrutiny since December 2017, when the department
detected several suspicious pay-TV service bills submitted for FDH visa
applications through D’Sun Employment.
It turned out Osias had been using the pay TV bills as proof
of residence for several FDH applicants with different addresses but with the same
bill account number.
After months of in-depth investigation, a syndicate with
Osias as the mastermind was identified as having arranged for Filipinos to work
in Hong Kong illegally by using false FDH contracts.
In March 2018, the Immigration Department arrested 14 persons,
including Osias, four other Hong Kong residents and nine Filipinos who had
applied for the FDH visas using falsified documents.
Two computers and a considerable number of false instruments
were seized, including originals and copies of forged bank statements and pay-TV
service bills.
Investigators discovered Osias used unlawfully obtained Hong
Kong ID card copies and false salary and residential proof, such as forged bank
statements, electricity and gas bills, as well as telecoms service and pay-TV service
bills to apply for FDH working visas.
Osias was prosecuted and sentenced to 24 months in prison
after she pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy to defraud and five
counts of using copies of false instruments.
Of the bogus FDHs arrested, five were prosecuted and
convicted of making false representation to an immigration officer and breach
of condition of stay. They were given various sentences, with the longest being four
months in jail.
Investigation of the other suspects is continuing, Immigration
said.
An Immigration spokesman said in a press release that those
who make, possess or use fake documents or conspire to do the same, are liable
to a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment.
Those who make false representation to an immigration
officer, on the other hand, face imprisonment of up to 14 years, and a maximum
fine of $150,000.
Immigration officers said at the briefing that 23 people have been arrested so far this year for fake domestic helper contracts, a marked increase from the 33 arrested for the same offence for the whole of last year.
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