A police station cook swindled six women he met through a singles club out of thousands of dollars while posing as a Marine Police officer, a court heard yesterday.
Chan Po-hong, 43, pleaded not guilty to 13 charges of stealing a total of $243,700 and six of dishonestly obtaining a sum of $143,550 between May 16, 1997, and August 1 last year.
He is alleged to have swindled one woman out of her money by pretending it could help him win a promotion.
Magistrate John Brennan ordered that the identities of the alleged victims be withheld.
One of the alleged victims, a 35-year-old beautician, told Eastern Court yesterday that she had been introduced to Chan by the hostess of a singles' club in April last year.
Chan had told her he was a Marine Police officer who lived with his mother and a maid in an 800-square-foot, three-room flat in Kwun Tong.
But the court heard the cook actually lived in public housing at Wah Ming Estate, Fanling.
