OFW charged for illegal hawking at HSBC building in Central

OFWs at the HSBC building in Central on a Sunday.

A Filipino domestic worker was charged in court for selling a fake Adidas jacket at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) building in Central of her day off.

Defendant Mer Angeli G.S. appeared before the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on March 19 and said she was not pleading guilty to the three cases—selling goods with a fake trademark, possessing goods with a fake trademark, and breach of condition of stay—filed against her.

“Hindi po,” Angeli told Eastern Principal Magistrate Peter Law.

An undercover Customs officer caught the defendant selling the fake Adidas jacket on Feb. 11 last year, a Sunday, at the HSBC building, which is a popular hangout of overseas Filipino workers on their day off.

The lawmen also found 15 other fake Adidas jackets with her. Angeli, like other foreign domestic workers, are not allowed to take other forms of employment even if unpaid during their stay here in Hong Kong.

“You were allowed to stay here with a contract as a domestic helper but you put up a business without the permission of the Director of Immigration,” the prosecutor said.

Judge Law set Angeli’s trial at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on April 12.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a territory-wide anti-illegal worker operation codenamed “Twilight” from March 11 to 14 and arrested 32 people— 25 illegal workers and seven suspected employers.

Immigration officers raided 41 locations, including offices, a construction site, an elderly home, a factory, a garbage collect point, an industrial building, a massage parlour, restaurants, a shopping mall and a warehouse.

“The illegal workers comprised 16 men and nine women, aged 24 to 57. Among them, five men were suspected of using and being in possession of forged Hong Kong identity cards,” the ImmD said in a statement.

“Meanwhile, six men and a woman, aged 28 to 59, were suspected of employing the illegal workers,” it added.

The ImmD said any person who contravenes her condition of stay is liable under the law. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration.

“Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties,” an ImmD spokesman said.