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| The accused was sentenced at Kwun Tong Court |
A Filipina was ordered to pay $44,400 in fines, penalties and compensation after she pleaded guilty at the Kwun Tong Court of helping run an unlicensed employment agency.
Gilda Flores Li, 64, was ordered by Deputy Magistrate Tobias
Cheng in a hearing Thursday (Aug. 8) to pay $12,000 in fines and penalties and
$32,400 in restitution to a victim who complained against her to the Labour
Department.
After an investigation, the department charged her in court last
May 14 with violation of sections 51(1) and 50(6) of the Employment Ordinance
for assisting in the management of an employment agency from Aug. 1, 2021 to Nov.
3, 2023.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
This ordinance prohibits any person from operating, managing
or assisting in the management of an employment agency unless he or she holds a
license or certificate of exemption, or is an associate of the licensee.
Violators can face a fine of up to $350,000 and imprisonment
of up to three years.
Li is not new to such prosecution.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
On Jan. 5, 2018, Li was convicted after a trial also at Kwun
Tong Court of overcharging a client, and ordered to pay $22,000 --$12,000 in
compensation and $10,000 in fine -- within three months, or face a jail term.
Li, who jointly owned Quality Consultants Agency with her
husband, was penalized for overcharging a Filipina domestic helper who applied at
her company to work as maid in Russia.
In the trial, she maintained that her company’s service was securing
an invitation from Russia, which is required by the Russian Consulate to grant a
commercial visa to domestic helpers so they can can go to Russia.
But Magistrate Andrew Mok Tze-chung concluded: “I don’t find
the defendant a credible and reliable witness. I do not accept that QCA, of
which she is a partner, is not an employment agency.”
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