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| The defendant's HKID card was used by an asylum seeker to get a job |
A Filipino resident appeared in Shatin Court on Tuesday, May 14, accused of lending his HK identity card to a Filipina who passed it on to her boyfriend, an asylum seeker, so he could take up illegal work.
In addition, the two are charged with dealing with proceeds
from an indictable offense, or money laundering, after the bank accounts in the
name of the accused Filipino, Ricardo R. De Austria, were used by the boyfriend of his co-accused, Leila W. Fonte, to receive payment for his illegal work.
No plea was taken at this time, and De Austria’s bail
of $1,000 was extended until his next court appearance on Jun 12.
Earlier, Fonte, 56, pleaded guilty to the two charges, as well as six other offences, resulting in her being jailed for 36 months on Apr 29.
According to a statement issued by the Immigration
Department on the same day, Fonte was also convicted of allowing her HKID card
to be used by an overstayer to work illegally in a restaurant and to secure a loan, and to make false representation to Immigration officers.
In the first charge brought against her and De
Austria, Fonte is accused of conspiring with Mohammed K. Shah on a unknown day
in July 2022, to use De Austria’s HKID so Shah could secure a job.
In the second charge, Fonte and De Austria are accused of dealing in the total sum of $414,791.33, held in De Austria’s bank accounts in Hang Seng Bank and CMB Wing Lung, knowing that the money were proceeds from a crime. The said offence was said to have taken place between Aug 6, 2020 and Sep 7, 2022.
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| TAWAG NA! |
According to the Immigration statement, Shah and Mely
Ibon, who used Fonte’s HKID card to work illegally as a dishwasher in a restaurant, were both sentenced
to 15 months in jail. They pleaded guilty to using someone else's HKID card and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In addition, Ibon was convicted of conspiring with Fonte to commit fraud
During her sentencing, Fonte’s lawyer said the accused
was a former domestic helper who married a local and got divorced years later.
She worked as a cleaner, earning $14,000 a month while fighting stage 3
cervical cancer.
In 2016, she lent her HKID card to Ibon, who used it
to secure a job in a restaurant between July 2018 and September 2021. Ibon was
paid a total of $596,611.40 during this period, which went into Fonte’s HSBC
account. Ibon paid Fonte $2,500 monthly for the favour.
Fonte then used the fake bank statements to support
her application for a dependant visa for Shah, which was approved.
Apart from this, Fonte also made Ibon use her HKID
card to secure a loan of $10,103 from United Asia Finance Limited between June
and August 2018. The two were charged with conspiracy to defraud, which they
both admitted in court.
Under Hong Kong laws, conspiring to use an identity
card belonging to another person is punishable by a maximum fine of $100,000
and up to 10 years in jail.
Conspiring to launder money could fetch a jail term of
up to 14 years and a maximum fine of $5 million.
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| SEE DETAILS HERE |
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