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Sunday 22 March 2009
Firm offering back-door entry to HK still operating
The Guangzhou company that claims to be helping dozens of mainlanders gain back-door entry into Hong Kong by posing as African investors is still operating.
Firm offering back-door entry to HK still operating
Chloe Lai, Fox Yi Hu and Joshua But 22 March 2009
The Guangzhou company that claims to be helping dozens of mainlanders gain back-door entry into Hong Kong by posing as African investors is still operating.
Zeng Xiaojing, the sole director of Ji Xiang Ru Yi, said her company moved its operations back to Guangzhou about two months ago. She insisted that getting people Hong Kong residency was simple.
But the Immigration Department expressed concern and appealed for information. It was adamant there was no loophole under the capital investment entrant scheme, which requires applicants to show they have HK$6.5 million in investments in either real estate or financial assets.
The Sunday Morning Post reported last week that the Guangzhou firm claimed it could help mainlanders migrate to Hong Kong via the scheme by forging documents.
A potential applicant pays the firm and signs a contract. The firm transfers HK$6.5 million to a shell company in Hong Kong and obtains a receipt, which purports that the money comes from the applicant. The firm uses the receipt as proof to apply for residency in Hong Kong.
A department source said such a loophole did not exist, as applications submitted by companies were usually not accepted.
“We normally only accept individual applicants,” the source said. “And according to our records we have not approved a single application submitted by a company.”
The source added that none of the applications received or approved were similar to those as mentioned in last week’s Post report. In the report, a Post journalist posing as a potential client was told that the company was registered in Hong Kong, and was given an address in Wan Chai and a company registration number.
But a visit to the purported office on the 14th floor of the Easey Commercial Building in Wan Chai found that the company did not exist.
Information from the Companies Registry shows that a firm called Ji Xiang Ru Yi International Fashion Group, aka Propitious Pleasant International Fashion Group, was registered at the same address and also run by Ms. Zeng.
Both companies share the same Guangzhou telephone number, which is disguised as a Hong Kong number. The same number was the one that led the Post to the company in Guangzhou.
In January, the registered company’s address was changed to a flat in Tai Yau Building in Wan Chai, the Companies Registry reveals. But it is occupied by an accounting firm.
The registration number led to a company called Hong Kong Daiyan Registration Limited, which under the Companies Registry record shares the same telephone number and the same Tai Yau Building address as the fashion company.
Daiyan’s sole director is a mainlander named Cen Weikian, who has the same last name as the person who told the Post how Ji Xiang Ru Yi could cheat the department.
Daiyan’s advert on alibaba.com showed Ms. Zeng is the general manager and the office address is in the Guangzhou flat that the Post reporter had visited. It claims the firm is a global accountancy firm, specialising in helping people to register companies in Hong Kong and overseas.
“We moved back to Guangzhou two months ago, it is why you cannot find us in Wan Chai,” Ms. Zeng said. “The most important thing is we are a Hong Kong company and that we will not cheat you. You can get your money back if we fail to get you a Hong Kong identity card.”
Ji Xiang Ru Yi claimed to be helping 60 mainlanders gain back-door entry to Hong Kong. They just have to put up 100,000 yuan (HK$113,500).
A department spokesman expressed concerns over the alleged scam and reiterated that the HK$6.5 million investment required from each applicant “must go into either real estate or financial assets”.
1 comment:
Firm offering back-door entry to HK still operating
Chloe Lai, Fox Yi Hu and Joshua But
22 March 2009
The Guangzhou company that claims to be helping dozens of mainlanders gain back-door entry into Hong Kong by posing as African investors is still operating.
Zeng Xiaojing, the sole director of Ji Xiang Ru Yi, said her company moved its operations back to Guangzhou about two months ago. She insisted that getting people Hong Kong residency was simple.
But the Immigration Department expressed concern and appealed for information. It was adamant there was no loophole under the capital investment entrant scheme, which requires applicants to show they have HK$6.5 million in investments in either real estate or financial assets.
The Sunday Morning Post reported last week that the Guangzhou firm claimed it could help mainlanders migrate to Hong Kong via the scheme by forging documents.
A potential applicant pays the firm and signs a contract. The firm transfers HK$6.5 million to a shell company in Hong Kong and obtains a receipt, which purports that the money comes from the applicant. The firm uses the receipt as proof to apply for residency in Hong Kong.
A department source said such a loophole did not exist, as applications submitted by companies were usually not accepted.
“We normally only accept individual applicants,” the source said. “And according to our records we have not approved a single application submitted by a company.”
The source added that none of the applications received or approved were similar to those as mentioned in last week’s Post report. In the report, a Post journalist posing as a potential client was told that the company was registered in Hong Kong, and was given an address in Wan Chai and a company registration number.
But a visit to the purported office on the 14th floor of the Easey Commercial Building in Wan Chai found that the company did not exist.
Information from the Companies Registry shows that a firm called Ji Xiang Ru Yi International Fashion Group, aka Propitious Pleasant International Fashion Group, was registered at the same address and also run by Ms. Zeng.
Both companies share the same Guangzhou telephone number, which is disguised as a Hong Kong number. The same number was the one that led the Post to the company in Guangzhou.
In January, the registered company’s address was changed to a flat in Tai Yau Building in Wan Chai, the Companies Registry reveals. But it is occupied by an accounting firm.
The registration number led to a company called Hong Kong Daiyan Registration Limited, which under the Companies Registry record shares the same telephone number and the same Tai Yau Building address as the fashion company.
Daiyan’s sole director is a mainlander named Cen Weikian, who has the same last name as the person who told the Post how Ji Xiang Ru Yi could cheat the department.
Daiyan’s advert on alibaba.com showed Ms. Zeng is the general manager and the office address is in the Guangzhou flat that the Post reporter had visited. It claims the firm is a global accountancy firm, specialising in helping people to register companies in Hong Kong and overseas.
“We moved back to Guangzhou two months ago, it is why you cannot find us in Wan Chai,” Ms. Zeng said. “The most important thing is we are a Hong Kong company and that we will not cheat you. You can get your money back if we fail to get you a Hong Kong identity card.”
Ji Xiang Ru Yi claimed to be helping 60 mainlanders gain back-door entry to Hong Kong. They just have to put up 100,000 yuan (HK$113,500).
A department spokesman expressed concerns over the alleged scam and reiterated that the HK$6.5 million investment required from each applicant “must go into either real estate or financial assets”.
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