Two women and a man were arrested last week for their involvement in a sham marriage, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong said at a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Lam, the 35-year-old male mainland suspect, surnamed Zhuang, holds an Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) travel permit for entering Macau, while the two female local suspects, aged 46 and 55, are surnamed Ho and Ng respectively. Ng, who acted as the intermediary in the case, is Zhuang’s mother.
Zhuang and Ho married in July 2017, according to Lam, who said that in April last year, the Public Security Police received the duo’s application to obtain Macau residency status for Zhuang on family reunion grounds. However, being suspicious of the 10-year age difference between the two, PSP officers summoned the “couple” to a police station for questioning last Thursday.
Under questioning, the duo admitted their involvement in the sham marriage, in which Ho told the police that she had received 200,000 patacas on two occasions from Ng to assist her son in obtaining Macau residency status through a marriage of convenience, Lam said, adding that the pair never lived together after they got married.
According to Lam, Ho first met Ng at work in 2017, when the latter spoke to her about the possibility of “marrying” her son.
Based on Ho’s confession, PSP officers summoned Ng to a police station for questioning, who admitted to committing the offence.
Ng, Ho and Zhuang have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).
According to Law No. 16/2021, Article 78, anyone who feigns a marriage for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit or special permit to stay in Macau, whether for himself or herself or someone else, faces a prison term of between two and eight years.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the suspected sham marriage trio to a police station.
