Chinese caught in Fontana claim they were victims of illegal recruitment

January 13, 2017

A group of  Chinese nationals arrested at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino in Clark, Pampanga  for engaging in illegal online gambling activities claimed they were victims of illegal recruitment, according to a joint counter- affidavit their lawyers filed at the justice department on Friday.

The 39 Chinese nationals, through lawyers Jonathan Sarte and Irene Bianca Distura, asked government  prosecutors to dismiss  charges against them even as they questioned the holding of  a preliminary investigation.

In November, some 1,316 alleged illegal  Chinese were arrested for online gambling at the Fontana Resort and Casino. Around 70 escaped that same month from their holding area and 16 Chinese remain to be found.

The government closed the operations of Fontana Leisure Park and Casino in December and ordered the arrest of its owner, Macau-based Jack Lam for bribery and economic sabotage charges.

The lawyers said the raid at Fontana’s Villa 736 was led by the justice department’s  Office of Cybercrime, also the complainant for illegal gambling and violation of the cybercrime law before the justice department.

“The DOJ is therefore acting as complainant, prosecutor and judge, all at the same time. As such, we do not expect to have a fair proceeding and we believe that this is a blatant violation of our right to due process,” stated the counter-affidavit.

During the raid, the respondents were not working. Some were sleeping, chatting outside the villa or just in the villa to visit their friends.

“The raiding team forced some of us to sit in front of the computers when they took pictures to be used as evidence,” the respondents said.

The raid was conducted on Nov. 24, 2016 but the lawyers said the search warrant came in late and issued merely “to legalize the confiscation of the equipment from Villa 736” which they said is a violation of their constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The respondents also questioned the Bureau of Immigration mission order, which became the basis for the issuance of a search warrant.

The Chinese nationals arrived in the country with jobs to work call-center style, talking to Chinese clients.  They said they did not know would be in  online gambling or their employer, Next Games Outsource, Inc.  has been given a permit to operate.

There are 43 respondents but  four failed to appear. DMS