workers
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A decoration company proprietor appearing at Sha Tin Magistrates' Court today (September 30) was sentenced to 10 months' jail for employing Mainland visitors.
The 52-year-old male defendant, Lam Kin-wai, pleaded guilty to nine counts of being the employer of a person not lawfully employable. He was sentenced to 10 months' jail on each charge, sentences to run concurrently.
In April, immigration investigators raided a flat in Sham Shui Po and found illegal workers living there. Enquiries revealed that the defendant was the tenant of the flat. He deployed the Mainlanders to work for him and accommodated them there.
The illegal workers pleaded guilty to breaching conditions of stay. They were earlier sentenced to two months to 15 months' imprisonment.
The Immigration Department warns that it is an offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. The maximum penalty is a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.
Visitors are not permitted to take up employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the prior permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and two years' jail.
Ends/Friday, September 30, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:23
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