Immigration officers were accused yesterday of pressuring mainland abode-seekers wanting to visit China ahead of court rulings on their cases into writing letters abandoning their claims.
The allegation came after a tape recording was passed to the South China Morning Post in which an immigration officer appears to tell a mainlander to write a letter dropping his claim before leaving Hong Kong for a home visit.
Concern groups say the conversation was secretly recorded during an interview between the claimant and the immigration officer. They claim there have been more than 100 similar cases in the past two years.
The abode-seeker overstayed in Hong Kong after coming in on a two-way permit two years ago. He had been given recognisance letters to extend his stay during which he petitioned Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. But when the claimant told the Immigration Department he wanted to return to the mainland to get married, he was asked to write a letter cancelling his claim.
The immigration officer says on the tape: 'You have written a letter to the Chief Executive to request to stay in Hong Kong. The Chief Executive is considering it. If you want to go back, it's simple. You have to write a letter to the Chief Executive telling him when you wrote to his office asking for right of abode and that now you have decided to return to the mainland and want to cancel the petition.'
The claimant later sought help from concern groups and returned to the mainland without writing the letter.
