Aim was to get Macau ID card for boss’s mistress
A local man went to a police station in January to confess that he had had helped his boss at that time by marrying his mistress so that she could get a Macau ID card, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
Two men and a woman were arrested on Monday for involvement in the sham marriage arranged in 2006.
The three suspects are a 64-year-old local man surnamed Wai, who owns a furniture store, a 46-year-old female teacher surnamed Wan originally from the mainland who obtained her Macau ID card in 2017, and a 36-year-old local lorry driver surnamed Ho, who worked for Wai. Ho and Wan married in 2006.
According to Lou, Ho went to a police station in January to tell the police about his sham marriage to Wan. Ho told the police that he was persuaded by his then boss, Wai, to marry the latter’s mistress who was living in the mainland so that she could get a Macau ID card. Ho was working in Wai’s furniture store at that time. Wai arranged for Ho and Wan to marry in the mainland in August 2006. They divorced in February 2012 after Wan had obtained her non-permanent Macau ID card in November 2011. She received her permanent ID card in November 2017. Ho told the police that he received 6,000 patacas as “tea money” from Wai for the sham marriage and that he had borrowed 30,000 patacas from Wai during the sham marriage. Wai later told Ho that he did not need to pay the money back.
Lou said Ho decided in January to tell the police about the sham marriage. Lou said the police still did not know why Ho decided to inform the police about it.
An investigation by the Judiciary Police discovered that Ho and Wan never lived together and had no contact with each other after they had married, while Wai and Wan had lived together in the mainland for a long time. Wan gave birth to Wai’s son in Macau in 2001.
Wai and Wan were arrested when they entered Macau at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Monday. Both denied the sham marriage.
Wai and Wan’s smartphones seized by the police contained messages about their daily life and photos of the two.
The trio were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Tuesday, facing document forgery charges, according to Lou.
This image issued by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) warns that sham marriages may end in prison. Courtesy of MHA
