3 Filipinas convicted of money laundering jailed between 9-12 months

 

More than $1.4 M passed through the Filipinas' HSBC accounts

Three Filipina domestic helpers who were convicted after trial of money laundering after allowing unknown people to take control of their bank accounts, were sentenced to between nine and 12 months as they sobbed today at Eastern Court.

A local woman working in a restaurant was meted the longest prison sentence of 13 months as her case involved an international element. According to Magistrate Minnie Wat, first defendant Wong Siu-kuen, 53, did not deny sending her ATM card to Malaysia where the illicit transactins were made in her name.

The lightest penalty of nine months’ imprisonment was imposed on Marife A. Dionson, 43, whose account was used to launder a total of $358,300 within one day, which the magistrate said was a “relatively short period of time.” The transactions were made between July 8 and July 9, 2020.

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The two other Filipina defendants, Geraldine G. Tolentino, 38, and Ires S. Caliwanagan, 40, were both meted the standard 12 months imprisonment for money laundering defendants who are found guilty after trial.

Tolentino’s bank account was made the repository of a total of $566,438 within five days, or between July 15 and July 20, 2020, while Caliwanagan’s account held a total of $714,406 between July 10 and July 23, 2020.

In sentencing, Magistrate Wat said a custodial sentence is inevitable for those who commit money laundering, which she described as a serious offence. She disregarded pleas for a lighter sentence based on the defendants’ personal and family circumstances.

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But she said she considered the international element in Wong’s case an aggravating factor, hence, the additional one month imposed on top of the standard 12 months’ imprisonment for those convicted after trial.

In Dionson’s case, her lawyer said she suffered a mild stroke after being arrested in 2020. She was described as naïve, and although she initially rejected the charge, she was now aware of the serious consequences of her actions, and was regretful.

Tolentino, on the other hand, was described by her mother to a probation officer who contacted her as “simple-minded and hardworking” and sent a big chunk of her salary to her family back in the Philippines. She was fully supported by her employer during her trial.

Caliwanagan was described by her lawyer as a  single mother with an 11-year-old son, who has been under tremendous stress because of the case, and is anxious to continue working in Hong Kong, but now realizes this will not happen because of her conviction.

Magistrate Wat said that in sentencing, she was mindful that all the defendants had a clear record and there was no evidence to suggest that they were the ones behind the illegal transfer of funds into their bank accounts.

She also said that even if the offences were committed in 2020, they did not come to light until the first prosecution witness in the case went to the police in 2021 to complain about losing $1.85 million in a love scam. Part of the money she lost was traced to the defendants’ bank accounts.

Prosecution began only in 2022, as it took the police some time to investigate, given the number of people found to be involved in laundering the money taken from the victim.

“This is not a particularly long time for the case to be brought to court,” said the magistrate.

In the admitted facts of the case that were read out in court, the total amount of money that went in and out of the four defendants’ money was more than $2.4 million, and the transactions took no more than three months.

About 10 other Filipinos were named as recipients of the $1.85 million that the love scam victim transferred to local banks, but they apparently escaped detection by the police.

But there was at least one other Filipina who was initially charged with the four, but she pleaded guilty when she appeared in court in October last year. She was sentenced to eight months in jail.

Before their conviction, the four defendants were allowed to post bail – $2,000 for Wong and $1,000 for each of the three Filipinas. 

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