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A Hong Kong resident who posed as another person to apply for the replacement of a lost identity card has been jailed, a department spokesman said today (March 27).
The 44-year-old male defendant, Li Luk Cheong, pleaded guilty at the Sha Tin Magistrates' Court today to a charge of furnishing false particulars to a registration officer and was sentenced to four months' jail.
On January 19, the defendant, using the name Kam Chun-keung, approached a Registration of Persons Office to apply for the replacement of his identity card. As the fingerprint record revealed that he was not the rightful holder, Immigration investigators then took over the case.
The defendant admitted that he had accepted $500 from a middle-man to apply for a replacement identity card for Kam. He was given a note written with Kam's personal particulars and was asked to memorise them for the application procedure.
Under the laws of Hong Kong, anyone who furnishes false particulars to a registration officer commits an offence. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, the maximum penalty will be a fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for two years.
Ends/Monday, March 27, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:25
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