The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a man from the Chinese mainland on Friday for making a false report, PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the suspect as a 38-year-old businessman surnamed Ze.
According to Lei, at around 11:00 p.m. on Friday, the Judiciary Police received a report from Ze, who claimed that he had earlier won HK$1.5 million (1.54 million patacas) at a casino.
Ze reported that he then contacted two female illegal currency exchange dealers to come to his hotel room in Cotai to exchange the money. His purported intention was to convert the Hong Kong dollars into yuan and transfer the funds back to the mainland. However, he claimed he was ultimately defrauded by the two money changers using fake transfer screenshots.
During the investigation, PJ officers discovered inconsistencies in Ze’s testimony. Lei said that upon further questioning, the suspect admitted to filing a false report.
He confessed that he had borrowed HK$1.5 million from relatives and friends on the mainland to come to Macau, but had lost the entire sum gambling. Fearing he would not be able to account for the loss to his family and friends, Ze contacted two currency exchange dealers to come to his hotel room for a purported transaction, only to cancel the deal on the pretext of an unfavourable exchange rate. Afterwards, he filed a false police report claiming he had been defrauded.
Ze has meanwhile been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) where he faces a charge of reporting a false crime.
Lei added that PJ officers will open a separate case to investigate the two illegal currency exchange dealers involved in Ze’s case.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Armindo Neves
