A mainland woman in her seventies and three of her local accomplices have been arrested for their involvement in making a false statement claiming that the septuagenarian was the sole inheritor of her deceased brother’s property, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The female suspect surnamed Chen is a retiree. The three local suspects comprise a 58-year-old retiree surnamed Lok; a 65-year-old security guard surnamed Chou; and a 49-year-old man surnamed Wong who told the police he’s jobless.
According to Lei, the mainland nephew of the deceased man reported to the police last July that his aunt, Chen, was falsely claiming to be her brother’s sole heir, resulting in him being deprived of his rightful inheritance. Lei noted that the inheritance consisted of three local flats worth a total of 3 million patacas, and as a result, the victim suffered a loss of 1.5 million patacas, which she should have shared with him.
Following the report, the four suspects were questioned by the police individually in recent months. It was discovered that after the death of Chen’s brother in 2016, she conspired with Lok to create a false statement in order to inherit all of her brother’s properties. In October 2018, Chen and Lok went to a Notary Public, where Chou, Wong, and another accomplice acted as declarants in the fraudulent statement.
Under questioning, Chen admitted to paying one million patacas to Lok for his assistance in the scheme. Wong confessed to receiving a reward of 2,500 patacas as a declarant in the notarised document. The police are still investigating the whereabouts of the third declarant.
The case has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), where the suspects face charges of fraud and document forgery, according to Lei.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei looks on during a regular press conference yesterday.
– Photo: William Chan
