*************************************************

A Hong Kong resident and a Mainlander were each sentenced to four months' jail for conspiracy to defraud, in the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court today (March 18), the Immigration Department said.

Wong Kwai-hing, a 37-year-old Hong Kong resident, and his sister-in-law, 34-year-old Mainlander Wong Ching-ying both pleaded guilty to the charge.  

Wong Kwai-hing accompanied a child, Wong Wing-hing, when he surrendered to the Immigration Department in September 2001. He claimed that the child was his son and so eligible for right of abode status by virtue of his birth in Hong Kong. He produced a 1996 Hong Kong birth certificate for the child showing the two defendants were his parents.

When assessing the child's right of abode status, Immigration investigators found that Wong Kwai-hing was in fact the brother of Wong Ching-ying's husband who was a Mainland resident. Wong Ching-ying and her husband had a daughter born on the Mainland before the birth of Wong Wing-hing. For fear of being penalised for infringing the Mainland's one-child policy, the mother came to Hong Kong in 1996 and gave birth to her second child.

Wong Kwai-hing, told the birth registry that he was the child's natural father even though he and Wong Ching-ying were not married. As the Hong Kong permanent resident status of the child was not established then, the mother and the child were repatriated to the Mainland in July 1996.

Under the laws of Hong Kong, anyone convicted of the offence of conspiracy to defraud is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. It is also an offence to make a false representation to immigration officers. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for 14 years. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalty.

Ends/Friday, March 18, 2005

NNNN