Woman extradited to Hong Kong for deception

A 60-year-old woman wanted in connection with a deception case was extradited to Hong Kong from Greece today (August 19).

The woman ran a local travel agency for receiving Japanese tourist groups. The victimised companies were hotels and a bus company in Hong Kong which provided hotel services and transportation services for the travel agency.

All went well until late 1994 and early 1995 when the turnover of the woman's travel agency rose substantially and the volume of the business with most of the victimised hotels increased.

In April 1996, the woman issued post-dated cheques to the victimised companies to clear the bills for February 1996. Eight of the cheques totalling HK$15 million were later bounced. On May 16,1996, the travel agency closed suddenly and the woman disappeared.

It was later revealed that the woman left Hong Kong on May 15, 1996 and failed to return since then.

On October 24, 2005, Interpol Athens informed Hong Kong Police that the woman was arrested in Athens Airport. Arrangements were then made to hand back the fugitive to Hong Kong today.

The woman has been charged with nine counts of obtaining services by deception. She will appear in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts on Monday (August 21).


Police Report No. 5

Issued by PPRB

END/Saturday, August 19, 2006