Two custom officials and a mainland Chinese woman appeared in court this week accused of fraud by instigating a sham marriage to allow the woman to stay in Hong Kong.
Lee Hon Wah, 53, the married head of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau of Customs and Excise Department, had reportedly been having an affair with mainlander Tong Xiao Hong, 32, since they met in Shenzhen in 2002, according to the SCMP.
Tong, who was previously married to a Hong Kong man, reportedly had Lee’s daughter in 2007 and divorced her husband in 2011.
Tong and Lee then allegedly asked Lam Yui Keung, 46, acting Chief Customs Officer, to help them find a Hong Kong man for Tong to marry.
It was then that Lam allegedly contacted a man named Liu – who is now immune from prosecution having given evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) – offering him HKD30,000 to marry Tong so she and her daughter could live in Hong Kong and be closer to Lee.
Liu and Tong married in Hong Kong on March 4, 2013, with Lam serving as a witness.
Liu later testified that the marriage was for business purposes only, something that Tong’s counsel suggested was a lie. He claimed Liu had been having sex with Tong for a year before their marriage.
On Dec. 15, 2015, Tong gave birth to a baby girl in Hong Kong, accompanied by a man named Lee Hon Ming, the same name as Lee’s older brother. However, Liu registered as the father of the child.
In court Liu denied being the child’s father, but could not explain why he had failed to make such assertions in earlier police interviews.
The court heard that Tong previously confessed to the ICAC that she had an affair with Lee and had asked Lam to arrange a man for her to marry.
Lee, Tong and Lam deny a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud. The trial continues.
