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Expat front court over visa scam
By Liu Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-14 00:11
A 58-year-old Malaysian has become the first expatriate to face trial after
allegedly organizing the departure of dozens of Chinese workers on tourism visas
from Nantong in East China's Jiangsu Province, the Nanjing-based Modern Express
reported.
Siaw Min Kee arranged the travel visas of 51 people from Nantong, who were
actually going to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to work, the Nantong People's
Procuratorate alleged.
But no decision was made late last week after the first hearing at the
Nantong Intermediate People's Court. The second hearing is yet to be scheduled.
In a similar case last year, two Chinese,who were found guilty of organizing
illegal migration in the name of travel, were jailed for 10 years and 11 years
by the Nantong Intermediate People's Court.
Their illegal profits were confiscated and each was fined 100,000 yuan
(US$12,000), the local paper said.
During court proceedings on Friday, it was alleged that in 2001 Siaw, a
Malaysian company manager involved with overseas labour procurement, negotiated
with Liu Jiashun, 38, to hire Chinese to work overseas.
Liu is the manager of a Zhucheng-based foreign trade company in East China's
Shandong Province.
It is claimed that Liu appointed a Nanjing-based human resource intermediary
company, which is run by Wang Xiaolan, who is the third defendant in the case,
to hire the workers.
In July 2002, Liu faxed a copy of workers' passports to Siaw in Malaysia, the
court was told.
Siaw then helped arrange tourism visas for the 51 workers, it is alleged,
although they were actually going abroad to work.
After that, Liu and Wang arranged for the labourers in Jiangsu Province to go
to the UAE in two batches in November 2002, it is claimed.
But the court was told some of them failed to find work in Dubai, and that
they went to the Chinese consulate general for assistance.
With the aid of the consulate, some of the people went back to China at the
end of 2002 and early last year. It is not known how many of the labourers are
still in Dubai.
During the hearing, Siew insisted that his behaviour was not illegal as it
was normal commercial practice, which is condoned by the UAE Government.
He said all of the workers had valid passports.
"Working in the UAE requires a probationary period, so working visas cannot
be obtained immediately," Siew said.
Nantong is one of the areas in the province that poses the biggest risk in
terms of illegal immigration, according to the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of
Public Security.
Among the 26,241 Nantong citizens who went abroad last year, 41 per cent went
for work, according to bureau statistics.
Almost 560 of them were detained after immigrating illegally, an increase of
400 per cent over 2002's figure.
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