Sir,
UMELCO
DRAFT SPEECH BY HON MARIA TAM, OBE, JP
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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18.12.1985
Immigration Ordinance
Under Part VIIA of the Immigration Ordinance Cap. 115, it is an offence for any ship's crew to carry unauthorized entrants into Hong Kong. It is also an offence for anyone to arrange for the passage of unauthorized entrants into this territory, or to assist them to stay. The penalty for these offences includes forfeiture of ships; and/or forfeiture of property being used or intended to be used for committing the above offences. Under S. 37K(1) of the Ordinance, a person "who in any proceeding under this part is alleged to be an unauthorised entrant shall be presumed to be such until the contrary is proved" thus placing the burden of proof onto the defendant to satisfy the court that he is not an unauthorized
entrant.
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Part VIIB goes even further in preventing unauthorized entrants to enter Hong Kong. It applies to ships found outside of Hong Kong waters with unauthorized entrants on board and in
circumstances where any of them is likely to enter Hong Kong. such a case the captain or owner of a ship must prove that at the relevant time he did not know or had no reason to suspect that these passengers were unauthorized entrants. The penalties also involve forfeiture of ships and property. Both Part VIIA and VIIB of Cap. 115 were introduced in 1979 at a time when the. number of Vietnamese refugees and illegal immigrants arriving in Hong Kong was causing a serious threat to our security and a
drain on our resources.
These measures are necessary to deter racketeers from giving or arranging passages for unauthorized entrants, and the
TIMEL