GEORGE TOWN: Five Chinese nationals, allegedly involved in an online love scam syndicate, have pleaded guilty at the Magistrate’s Court here to charges of overstaying and violating the conditions of their work passes.
Magistrate Tunku Intan Nadiah Tunku Mohammed Nazarin fined two of the accused, Zhu Lushan, 34, and Liu Xiaoqian, 28, RM10,000 each in default of eight months' jail.
Three others, Zhu Xiaolong, 36, He Linpeng, 33, and Tong Bofeng, 31, were fined RM1,000 each in default two months' jail.
All five pleaded guilty after the charges were read separately in Mandarin by a court interpreter on Wednesday (Nov 12).
According to the charges, Xiaolong, Linpeng and Bofeng, who held employment passes as marketing managers with Excellent Giant Logistic Sdn Bhd based in Kuching, Sarawak, were found at a premises at 2A Solok Tropika 1, Tropika Ferringhi in Batu Ferringhi at 7pm on Oct 31 without a reasonable excuse.
They were found to have breached the conditions of their work passes by working at the premises, an offence under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963, which carries a jail term of up to six months or a fine not exceeding RM1,000 upon conviction.
Lushan and Xiaoqian were charged with overstaying beyond the validity of their special passes by six days at the same location, date and time.
The two were charged under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and punishable under Section 15(4) of the same Act, which provides for a fine of up to RM10,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both, upon conviction.
DPP Siti Nur Farihin Ahmad prosecuted the cases while all the accused were represented by lawyer Ng Sze Wei.
It was earlier reported that the five had been arrested by police last month for alleged involvement in an online love scam syndicate targeting victims in China, South Korea and Japan.
