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    Three Hong Kong residents were each jailed for three months for conspiracy to defraud, in Sha Tin Magistrates? Court today (August 15), the Immigration Department said.

    The three defendants ? Chan Kwok-keung, 43, his nephew?s wife, Fung Wan-fa, 33, and his nephew, Chan Kai-kwong, 35 ? were each charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud. They were jailed for two months on each charge, but one month of the sentence for the second charge will run concurrently with the first, making a total of three months? imprisonment.

    Fung was also convicted of two counts of making false statements for the purpose of obtaining re-entry permits and two counts of furnishing false particulars to registration officers. She was sentenced to two months? imprisonment for each of the charges.  All charges will run concurrently with the above two conspiracy charges.

    When Chan Kwok-keung applied for the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) for his daughter on the Mainland, it was found he had reported Fung Wan-fa as his spouse while registering for the births of two children in Hong Kong in 1993 and 1994. The spouse he reported in the COE application for his Mainland daughter was different.

    Investigations revealed that Chan Kwok-keung was in fact the uncle of Chan Kai-kwong. Chan Kwok-keung came to settle in Hong Kong in 1979. Fung Wan-fa and Chan Kai-kwong were then Mainland residents married there.

    During 1992-93, Fung Wan-fa and Chan Kai-kwong, for the purpose of acquiring right of abode for their children in Hong Kong, asked Chan Kwok-kwung to pose as the natural father of their children. Chan Kwok-keung agreed to their request. Fung then came to Hong Kong to give birth to two children in 1993 and 1994 and successfully acquired right of abode for them.

    Fung and Chan Kai-kwong came to settle in Hong Kong in 2000 and 1997 respectively. Fung made a false statement for the purpose of obtaining re-entry permits and furnished false particulars to registration officers while applying for identity cards for her two Hong-Kong-born children in 2000, 2004 and 2005 and thus four additional charges were laid against her.

    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/Monday, August 15, 2005

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