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| Foreign domestic helper's visa |
A Filipina who holds a recognizance form to serve as her identification document, has been jailed for 10 months for two counts of conspiracy to defraud the Immigration Department by presenting fake documents to enable two persons to get foreign domestic helper visas.
Gina Villareal,
52, was sentenced Thursday (Nov. 21) to eight months each for the two violations
of Common Law and punishable under section 159C(6) of the Crimes Ordinance.
However, Acting
Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong ordered that six months of the second sentence
be served concurrently with the first, leaving only two to be added to the first
sentence for a total of 10 months.
According
to the first charge filed last Sept. 5, Villareal
conspired with Aprilyn Tupas, Almira Narag-Chow and Homer Herrera to present bogus
documents to the Immigration Department between an unknown date in 2021 and June
1, 2023.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
These
documents became the basis for Immigration to grant a FDH visa to Tupas which allowed her to remain in Hong Kong while working for Chow.
The complaint
said the misrepresentation induced the Immigration “Director and his officers
to act contrary to their public duty, namely to grant Tupas Aprilyn Tario permission
to remain in Hong Kong, in circumstances which they would not otherwise have
granted.”
In the second
charge, Villareal was charged with conspiring with Liza Castillo, Jumiati and “a
person known as Homer” to present fake documents between June 2022 and Aptil
26, 2023 to get Immigration to grant Jumiati a visa as a domestic helper of Castillo.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
It s understood
that the co-conspirators also faced similar charges. Tupas, for example, was jailed
for four months when she pleaded guilty to the same set of circumstances last Oct.
17 in the same court. (see https://www.sunwebhk.com/2024/10/4-months-for-lying-to-immigration-to.html)
Meanwhile,
another Filipina was also convicted of conspiracy to defraud but magistrate Cheang
put off her sentencing to Feb. 13 next year. She was released on bail of
$1,000.
Elynette Montalban,
aged 43, admitted participating in a conspiracy to defraud Immigration when she applied for a visa as domestic helper of co-conspirator Tam Ka Ki between
June 22 and April 26, 2023.
Montalban
was granted permission to stay in Hong Kong by Immigration officers “under
circumstances which they would not otherwise have granted,” the police complaint
said.
Also named
as co-conspirator in the case was Kathleen Vizcarra, who acted with “persons unknown.”
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