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| Ebrahim appeared in Kwun Tong court for the first time to face charges of wrongfully accepting payment for product |
An elusive owner of a recruitment company finally appeared
in Kwun Tong Court today, May 21, together with her Filipina staff, on charges illegally taking money from job applicants, after being
absent in previous hearings for alleged medical problems.
Lennis Ebrahim, 55, wearing blue jeans and a jacket as well
as a surgical mask, stooped and walked weakly with the help of a male escort to
stand behind the back row of the counsel’s tables.
Her co-defendant, Marijane Biscocho, 42, who has been in
custody since her arrest on Nov 7 last year, stood in the dock.
The appearance of Ebrahim before Magistrate Ivy Chui coincided
with the addition of three counts of “engaging in a commercial practice that
constitutes wrongly accepting payment for a product” against her and Biscocho.
In the last hearing on Apr 23, 17 counts of the same charge
were filed against Biscocho, and one against Ebrahim.
“I notice that the second defendant is in court today,” the
magistrate said upon seeing the defendant who had skipped her past hearings
allegedly due to illness.
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Ebrahim’s counsel replied that his client was feeling
unwell. Early on, he said his client had heart problems and presented a medical
certificate.
The alleged victims in the earlier cases had accused Ebrahim,
Biscocho, and another Filipina, Nympha Lumatac, of collecting around $180,000
from them for high-paying jobs in Hong Kong and Macau
that turned out to be non-existent.
Lumatac slipped out of Hong Kong and went home via Macau before the Customs & Excise Department took
over the case and arrested Biscocho and Ebrahim last November.
In one of the new charges filed against Biscocho and Ebrahim
today, the prosecution said the two allegedly offered and accepted payment from
a Filipino applicant last year, for a job as a printer.
The two defendants allegedly promised the unnamed man the
job for a certain amount, but after he paid them, they kept him waiting for
five months but did not deliver on their promise.
The prosecution said the three new counts brought to 20 the
number of charges now faced by both Biscocho and Ebrahim but did not read out
details of the two other counts.
Magistrate Chui adjourned the case until Jun 18 as the
prosecutor said the Customs team needed more time to complete their
investigation and prepare for the case.
Biscocho was remanded in custody and had no bail
application, her lawyer said.
The magistrate extended Ebrahim’s bail and told her stay in
her given address, not to leave Hong Kong and
report to the police.
