The Filipino owner of a local recruiting agency was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison for helping 12 fellow Filipinos illegally stay in Hong Kong on fake domestic helper visas.
Au Yeung Chi-wai, an assistant principal immigration officer, said that the recruitment ringleader made up false employers, used illegally obtained copies of Hong Kong identification cards and forged documents and addresses to help the Filipinos apply for visas to work as domestic helpers in the city.
According to the case briefing by the Immigration Department, the unnamed 55-year-old woman was convicted on charges of forgery and conspiracy to defraud.
“From December 2017, we found that the television bills used as proof of residential addresses in some domestic helper visa applications by one employment company had the same number, but with different clients’ names and other information,” Au Yeung said. “After an investigation, we found that these documents were forged.”
Au Yeung said the 12 false applications were found out of some 500 visa applications submitted by the recruitment firm.
He said Hong Kong immigration had arrested 14 people involved in the scam since March 2018. Those arrested included the ringleader, who is a permanent Hong Kong resident, and nine Filipinos suspected of using fake domestic helper contracts. Four relatives of the owner were also arrested but were not charged.
Of the 14 arrested, five people were convicted for using fake contracts, with the highest penalty four months in prison.
Au Yeung said the highest punishment for processing or using fake documents and conspiracy to defraud was 14 years in prison for each crime.
According to Au Yeung, the agency charged a HK$30,000 (US$3,839) commission fee to bring illegal workers from the Philippines to Hong Kong. He added that, for those already in the city seeking illegal employment, the agency charged HK$20,000 to HK$50,000, which would be repaid in instalments after the foreign worker started working.
“They were attracted to this because they earned more with around HK$400 to HK$800 per day for illegal employment,” he said. “We believe the whole syndicate profited to the tune of HK$400,000 for the business.
He urged local employers to carefully check jobseekers’ documents before hiring.
“Hiring illegal workers is also illegal,” he said.
According to the Immigration Department, 33 people were arrested in 2018 for fake domestic helper contracts – but in the first half year of 2019 there have been 23 arrests.
