By The SUN
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| A total of $1.3 million passed through the defendants' ATM accounts with HSBC |
Two Filipina domestic helpers whose bank accounts were used to launder a total of more than $1.3 million more than two years ago are due to stand trial on Feb 10 next year after they rejected a charge each of "dealing with property known or believed to be proceeds of a crime."
One
of the defendants, Marissa C. Mesa, 46, also denied an alternative charge of
conspiring with an unnamed person to deal with a total sum of $1,075,781 which
passed through her ATM account with HSBC between Apr 21 and May 25, 2020.
Her
lawyer told Eastern Magistrate Ada Yim on Tuesday that Mesa intends to
contest the “voluntariness and accuracy” of the translation of the video
recorded interview (VRI) she had with the police following her arrest.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Mesa’s
lawyer said they intend to establish a lack of “mens rea” – or criminal intent –
on the part of the Filipina defendant.
They
also plan to challenge the testimony of the main prosecution witness, said to have been
the victim of a love scam, who transferred the questioned amounts into Mesa’s
account. The defense lawyer said the civilian witness is “likely part of the
money laundering” scheme herself.
The
other defendant, Hazel V. Gepulgani, 33, was accused of using her HSBC account
to deal with a total sum of $281,400, between Jun 13 and Jun 18, 2020, “knowing
or having reasonable grounds to believe” that the money represented proceeds of
a crime.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Her
lawyer said the defendant does not want to question records showing the
transactions made in her account, but only wishes to challenge the accuracy of the interpretation of her VRI.
Following
their submissions, Magistrate Yim set down the date for their trial and extended their bail on the same terms - $2,000 for Mesa and $1,600 for Gepulgani.
The
charge laid against each of the two defendants, more popularly known as “money
laundering,” is said to be contrary to sections 25(1) and 25(3) of the
Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
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| Press for details |
The
two accused last appeared in court on Jul 22, along with three other Filipinas
who all admitted a count each of dealing with property known to be proceeds of
a crime, and were jailed for between two to eight months.
Two of the three, who have since been released
after serving their sentences, were back in court Tuesday to listen to the pre-trial
review of the cases against their co-accused.
The money that passed through the accounts of the five defendants, totalling nearly $2 million, was said to have been obtained in part from a local woman who fell prey to a love scam.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
They each admitted passing on their ATM cards, along with the passwords, for between $1,000 to $3,000 to unknown people who used them to launder huge sums of money obtained from illicit means.
Read
the previous story here: https://www.sunwebhk.com/2022/07/people-who-sell-their-atms-to-money.html.
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