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Two non-ethnic Chinese illegal workers holding Immigration recognizance forms and a Hong Kong man were jailed after appearing in Sha Tin Magistrates' Court yesterday (November 19) after the Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 came into effect on November 14.
One of the South Asians, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of taking employment while being a person in respect of whom a removal order was in force. The employer, who is a Hong Kong resident, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of being the employer of a person not lawfully employable. They were each sentenced to six months imprisonment.
During an anti-illegal workers operation on November 14, the 27-year-old South Asian was found conveying rolls of cloth in a carpark loading area in Tsuen Wan. The involved Hong Kong resident admitted he was the employer of the man.
In the second case, another South Asian, 35, was found unloading a pile of goods from a truck in Kwai Chung. He pleaded guilty to one count of taking employment while being a person who remained in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director of Immigration after having landed in Hong Kong unlawfully. He was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment.
"The Immigration Department will continue to strengthen law enforcement to combat unlawful employment after the amended ordinance takes effect. It is an offence for illegal immigrants or people who are the subject of a removal order or a deportation order from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or from establishing or joining in any business. A person committing the offence is liable to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for three years." the Immigration spokesman said.
The spokesman also appealed to employers not to employ illegal workers, warning that it was an offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. The maximum penalty is a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years. As a deterrent measure against unlawful employment, the High Court laid down a sentencing guideline in 2004 reaffirming that it was a serious offence to employ someone who was not lawfully/legally employable, and the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence.
Ends/Friday, November 20, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:42
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