By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Sample of money laundering transactions made using a Filipina DH's bank account |
A 32-year-old Filipina who used to work as a domestic helper
was charged in
The defendant, H.V. Gepulgani, was crying the whole time she was in the dock for the hearing of her case.
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Magistrate Ada Yim ordered the Filipina released on bail
after her Duty Lawyer said she could post $1,600 cash bail, surrender her travel
documents and reside with a friend who lives in
The prosecution did not oppose the bail application.
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Gepulgani was charged with one count of dealing with proceeds believed to be proceeds from a crime, after the money was found in her account with HSBC. No other details were disclosed.
The prosecutor requested for an eight-week adjournment of the case so police investigators could obtain from bank documents and information from the Immigration about the defendant.
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Investigators are also looking into Gepulgani’s connections with three other Filipinos who were involved in a similar case, the prosecutor said.
She said the defendant was a domestic helper who was dismissed by her employer in June this year and was still looking for an employer.
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| Syndicates use ATM cards to withdraw dirty money they deposited into a FDH's account |
Gepulgani’s arrest followed a series of arrests made by the police in connection with the use of bank accounts belonging to FDHs for laundering money obtained from illicit means, such as romance and phone scams.
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The FDHs who were arrested said they surrendered their ATMs in exchange for loans of between $2,000 and $4,000 or as guarantee for high-paying parttime work offered to them online.
Hong Kong Police said that as of Sept 30 this year, they had received 136 reports of romance scams, involving the loss of $53.6 million. This marks a 58.8 % jump in the number of cases from the same period last year, in which $17.3 million was lost.
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Overall, there was a slight increase in the number of deception cases recorded between Jan 1 to Jun 30 this year. From 8,126 cases reported in the same period last year, the number went up to 8,699 this year.
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