Woman, 34, accused of making false statement to obtain Hong Kong study permit granted bail
- Woman is asked to stay at her listed address in Hong Kong, report regularly to Wan Chai Police Station and surrender all her travel documents
A 34-year-old woman accused of making a false statement to obtain a study permit in Hong Kong was granted bail after appearing in court on Saturday.
Xie Qing, a holder of a Chinese permit for travelling to and from the city, is one of two women arrested for allegedly using forged documents and making false representations to immigration officers to obtain a permit to study in the city.
This comes amid a snowballing scandal involving students using fake qualifications to enter the University of Hong Kong’s business school.
A charge sheet available for press inspection said: “In the application for the said entry permit, you [Xie] stated that you studied at the University of California, Berkeley between September 2009 to December 2012.”
Xie appeared before the court with a stern face and was wearing a face mask and a black suit jacket.
When asked by Magistrate Andrew Mok Tze-chung, Xie, assisted by a Mandarin interpreter, said she understood the charges laid against her.
Mok later agreed to release Xie on a HK$500,000 (US$64,000) cash bail, with a friend also providing a sum of HK$1 million as surety.
The 34-year-old was also asked to stay at her listed address in Hong Kong, report regularly to the Wan Chai Police Station and surrender all her travel documents.
The case has been adjourned after Saturday’s hearing, with Xie set to appear before the same magistrate court on August 19.
On Thursday, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) business school revealed that about 30 students were found to have used fraudulent qualifications to secure places in its master’s programmes following an in-depth investigation.
School dean Cai Hongbin said the number might eventually rise to as many as 100. The school also asked those students who had once hired agencies to forge qualifications to provide the deals between them in order to report the detailed situation to police.
Police said on the same day they had arrested two mainland women – a 24-year-old on June 22 and a 34-year-old on Wednesday – in connection with the scandal.
The women both held two-way permits, a travel document issued by mainland Chinese authorities for visiting Hong Kong, and were arrested when crossing the border.
The other woman in the pair, a 24-year-old, was charged with using forged documents and brought to Eastern Court last month.
