The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested a local woman, who works as a nurse, last week for illegally hiring an Indonesian woman as a domestic helper to look after her parents in December last year, a PSP spokesperson said during a regular press conference on Friday.
The Indonesian did not hold a work permit in Macau when she was hired.
In addition to the nurse, a female staff member of an employment agency who introduced the Indonesian woman to the domestic helper job was also arrested.
The spokesperson identified the nurse as a 56-year-old surnamed Chan and the job agency staff member as a 44-year-old surnamed Chu.
According to the spokesperson, the police received a report on Wednesday last week that an illegal worker (known in colloquial Cantonese as “black labour”) was working in a flat in Avenida de Sidónio Pais. PSP officers went to the flat where they questioned the Indonesian woman, who admitted that she was working in the flat as a domestic helper but did not hold a work permit.
Later Chan returned to the flat and admitted to the police that she had illegally hired the Indonesian woman as a domestic helper, the spokesperson said.
The police took Chan and the Indonesian woman to a police station for further questioning. The Indonesian woman in her twenties told the police that she went to an employment agency in Macau in early December to look for a job in the city. In the middle of December, Chu, a staff member of the agency, called the Indonesian woman and told her that an employer – Chan – needed a domestic helper, the spokesperson said, adding that the Indonesian woman then went to the employment agency and met Chan.
According to the spokesperson, Chan hired the Indonesian woman as a domestic helper to look after her parents for a monthly salary of 4,700 patacas. After obtaining the job, the Indonesian woman paid the employment agency 4,200 patacas as a service fee, the spokesperson said.
Chan told the police that she had paid Chu 1,000 patacas as a service fee for Chu’s assistance in helping her hire the Indonesian woman, the spokesperson said.
Later the police questioned Chu at a police station where she admitted that she had helped Chan hire the Indonesian woman, according to the spokesperson.
Chu told the police that she had reminded Chan that the Indonesian woman had still not obtained a work permit to work in Macau. However, Chu said that Chan still agreed to hire the Indonesian woman as a domestic helper, according to the spokesperson.
The spokesperson did not mention which medical institution Chan works for.
Chan and Chu have been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further questioning, both facing a charge of hiring an illegal worker.
The illegal hiring of non-locals working in Macau is a criminal offence, with a prison term of up to two years, according to the current law on illegal immigration, overstaying and deportation enacted in 2004.
This undated handout photo released by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Friday shows two PSP officers escorting the Indonesian woman, the local nurse illegally hiring her as a domestic helper, and the job agency staff member to the PSP headquarters in Zape.
