A woman from the Chinese mainland was arrested on Monday for falsely reporting a theft case to the police in an attempt to evade paying her debts, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Un Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a 30-year-old businesswoman surnamed Li.
According to Cheong, the police received a referral on Monday from the Public Security Police (PSP) about a suspected theft case in which Li accused her middle-aged female friend of stealing 10,000 yuan in cash, HK$285,000 in gambling chips, and her identification documents during their stay in a hotel guestroom in Cotai.
Cheong noted that Li checked into the hotel guestroom on Friday and invited her friend to visit. On Monday, after the victim had left the room, Li accused her of theft, claiming that the cash, chips, and identification documents she had placed in her handbag in the room had vanished. Li reported the purported theft to the security guards, who later intercepted her friend and reported the case to the police.
The police confirmed that the friend was intercepted by security after leaving the room, during which she neither gambled nor interacted with anyone else, and no stolen money or chips were found on her. Additionally, the police discovered that Li had gambled away HK$184,000 in chips at a casino during her visit to Macau.
Under questioning, Li admitted to fabricating the theft in order to evade debts in the mainland owed to her friend, claiming that the 10,000 yuan she reported as stolen was actually at her mainland home.
Li has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of falsely reported a crime to the police.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Un Hong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference.
– Photo: Ada Lei
