A 55-year-old local jobless man, surnamed Ho, turned himself in to the police last Friday for taking part in a sham marriage so that he could marry his new girlfriend, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheuk Kou Chi told reporters yesterday at a regular press conference.
According to Cheuk, Ho claimed that an intermediary had arranged a sham marriage between him and a 55-year-old woman, surnamed Zhang, in 2008. Cheuk said that according to Ho, Zhang needed a local man to help her apply for a mainlander’s family-visit travel permit to Macau and, in exchange, Ho was promised HK$20,000. However, Cheuk added, Ho said he had only received HK$10,000 from Zhang, pointing out that Zhang told him she would only pay the remainder after she got her Macau ID.
Cheuk said Ho claimed the intermediary had already been paid HK$15,000. Cheuk said as Ho could not remember the intermediary’s name, the police were still investigating and looking for that person at the time of the press conference.
Cheuk said Ho claimed that his reason for the confession was due to his eagerness to marry his current girlfriend as he was unable to divorce Zhang.
According to Cheuk, Zhang holds an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as a two-way permit), and she was unable to obtain a Macau ID because she did not meet the requirement to stay in Macau for seven years, adding that she did not enter Macau between late 2010 and mid-2019. Cheuk said that, however, the local police arrested Zhang last Friday at the Barrier Gate (關閘口岸) checkpoint but she refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Cheuk noted that both Ho and Zhang have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing document forgery charges.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows a PSP officer escorting the document forgery suspect to a police station.
