A local woman and a man who married in 2009 and divorced in 2018 were taken last week to a police station for questioning about their alleged sham marriage, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lei Chan Hong said yesterday.
Both suspects are in their fifties. The male suspect surnamed Zhang told the police that he’s a businessman, while the female suspect surnamed Ho is a casino dealer. Zhang is originally from the mainland.
According to Lei, the pair became acquainted in 2000. In 2009, Zhang suggested to Ho that they enter into a fake marriage, offering her 80,000 patacas. Ho agreed to the arrangement.
Their “marriage” ended in 2018 after Zhang obtained a Macau identity card (BIR) in 2016. Later, Zhang decided to legally marry his fiancée from the mainland, with whom he has two children, in order to help her and their children acquire Macau identity cards. The Identification Services Bureau (DSI) suspected the previous “marriage” to be a sham and subsequently referred the case to the Public Security Police. Police intercepted the duo last week and took them to a police station for questioning.
The two suspects told the police that they had never had a “real” relationship together.
The duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing document forgery and false statement charges, according to Lei.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lei Chan Hong looks on during a regular press conference yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
