Two arrested as Hong Kong probe widens into allegations that major fraud rackets targeted Filipino domestic workers
Post learns co-owner of defunct employment agency and ex-marketing director of travel firm out on bail but required to report back to police next month
Two Hong Kong-based business figures who worked closely with Filipino domestic workers in the city have been released on bail following their arrest in connection with two of the biggest alleged fraud rackets to hit the migrant community in recent years.
Police investigating hundreds of claims that people were duped into handing over cash to an agency in Hong Kong for non-existent jobs overseas confirmed on Tuesday they had arrested a 65-year-old foreign woman on suspicion of fraud and money laundering last week and that she had been released on bail.
The police have not formally named either of the two suspects.
The man is Arnold Grospe, a former marketing director with Peya Travel, the company allegedly involved in the Christmas flight bookings fiasco.
Neither suspect has been charged and both are required to report back to police early next month.
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Both cases are being investigated by the Hong Kong Island regional crime unit, but police did not answer questions seeking clarification over whether the two cases were separate or part of a single probe.
Ylagan, who denies any wrongdoing and previously claimed she too was “duped”, was arrested in Western District on suspicion of “conspiracy to defraud” and “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence” – otherwise known as money laundering.
According to a report in the newspaper The Sun, the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong has been notified of the arrests.
We are hopeful that the wheels of justice will finally start moving
“Although we have yet to hear of the details of the arrests and the effects on the cases, initially we are glad and hopeful that the wheels of justice will finally start moving,” a consulate spokesman said. “The consulate will release the necessary advisories once we receive the [police] report.”
