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Two Hong Kong residents involved in conspiracy to defraud an airline were jailed by the District Court yesterday (March 30).
The two male defendants are Hong Kong residents Tam Chi-sum, aged 50, and Hui Tin-ping, aged 40.
They were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud after trial and were each sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment.
The court heard that an Immigration investigator intercepted a Mainlander, Dong Yun, at a boarding gate of the Hong Kong International Airport in November 2008, when Dong attempted to board a flight for Taipei with onward to Canada. Two boarding passes and a forged Canadian passport which bore the name of a Hong Kong resident, Chan Yik-ping, were found in Dong's possession.
Investigation revealed that Chan was offered by defendants with a reward of HK$20,000 by giving his own HKSAR passport to them for preparing boarding passes, which would be used by another person to go to Canada. Chan accepted the offer. On a day in November 2008, Chan was instructed by defendants to check in the flight for Taipei with onward to Canada by using his own identity and then transfer the boarding passes to Dong for boarding. However, Dong was intercepted by Immigration Officer and both defendants were arrested for conspired together with Chan and Dong to defraud the airline by dishonestly and falsely representing that Dong was Chan, and was entitled to obtain boarding passes in the name of Chan.
Under the Crimes Ordinance, a person convicted of the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud is liable to imprisonment for 14 years.
Ends/Thursday, March 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:48
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