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| The bar is on first floor of building on D'Aguilar St. (Photo from Google Maps) |
A Filipino caught while allegedly working illegally as a waiter in a bar in Lan Kwai Fong, was detained today after appearing at Eastern Court, but a bigger question was raised about why the owner of the place was not charged.
Melben Tamayor, 40 years old and holder of a recognizance form
that identifies him as an asylum seeker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of taking
employment while being a person against whom a removal order is in force.
He was arrested at the Tai Tai cocktail bar on D’Aguilar St.
in Central last Dec. 29, 2023 when police raided the place.
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Tamayor's lawyer offered a cash bail of $1,000 for his temporary liberty,
with conditions such as surrendering his Philippine passport, reporting to police
regularly and not leaving Hong Kong until the pre-trial review on Oct. 22.
But Principal Magistrate Don So rejected the offer and,
after confirming with the lawyer that this offense is punishable by up to 15
months in prison, revoked Tamayor’s previous police bail of $500 and remanded
him in jail custody.
Tamayor appeared in court with Nepalese
Gupta Wagle Cheetri, 24, who also pleaded not guilty to charges of selling liquor
without a license and possession of liquor for sale or supply without a
license, both of which violate the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance. He was freed
on $500 bail.
It was Wagle Cheetri, after
asking for permission to speak, who led Magistrate So to ask the prosecutor if the
owner of the restaurant would also be called.
He claimed that he was just
working at the restaurant, and did not know that its liquor license had expired
in April 2023 when he was caught eight months later serving three bottles of
beer to undercover police officers and had 130 cans and bottles of beer stocked in the premises.
When the prosecutor said the
owner will be called to testify during the trial, Magistrate So asked her: “So
why are you not prosecuting the license owner?”
The prosecutor promised to look
into it.
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