A Filipina who falsely claimed she would work for another Filipina when applying for a visa as a domestic helper, has been jailed for four months for conspiracy to defraud the Immigration Department.
The Filipino agent who assisted her is now considered a fugitive after she failed to show up at a separate hearing.
Aprilyn Tupas, aged 42, pleaded
guilty at Shatin Court on Thursday (Oct. 17) to lying to an Immigration officer
that she would work for Almira Narag-Chow, resulting in her being granted permission
to stay and work in Hong Kong.
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In the case that dates back to
2023, Tupas admitted the charge by the Immigration Department that she conspired
with Narag-Chow, agent Gina Villareal and a certain Homer Herrera in
submitting false documents between an unknown day in 2021 and on June 1, 2023.
She also admitted conspiring with
the three others “to induce said (Immigration) Director and his officers to act
contrary to their public duty, namely to grant you permission to enter and
remain in Hong Kong, in circumstances which they would not otherwise have
granted.”
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In a separate but related conspiracy-to-defraud
case in the same courtroom, Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong ordered
that a warrant of arrest issued last Oct. 14 will remain in force against Villareal, 52 years old, who was again absent at Thursday’s hearing.
Villareal is facing two such
charges, the first being that she conspired with Tupas, Narag and Herrera.
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Her second case involved the fraudulent
visa application of Jumiat, an Indonesian, as a domestic helper of Liza
Castillo, also with Herrera's help. The alleged offence happened between an unknown day in 2021 and May
13, 2023, which resulted in Jumiat getting a DH visa.
Tupas and Villareal were
charged conspiring to defraud, which is punishable under the Crimes Ordinance
with imprisonment of up to 14 years.
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