Asia-Pacific News
Bogus marriage syndicate behind 180 Hong Kong weddings smashed
Dec 22, 2011, 2:34 GMT
Hong Kong - Police in Hong Kong said Thursday they had smashed a bogus marriage syndicate behind at least 180 marriages between people from the city and mainland Chinese spouses.
Seventeen men and two women aged 23 to 65 were arrested over the syndicate which advertised in local newspapers and is believed to have made more the equivalent of more than 900,000 US dollars.
Two of those arrested were syndicate leaders while the rest were partners involved in the bogus marriages, which began at the end of last year, police said.
People from mainland China were charged around 5,000 US dollars each for a marriage to a partner from wealthy Hong Kong, which has a border and a separate administration to the rest of China.
The mainland Chinese customers paid for the bogus marriages to give them to right to apply for residency rights in Hong Kong, police said.
The maximum penalty in Hong Kong for conspiring to defraud with a bogus marriage is 14 years in jail.
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