A 76-year-old Filipina tourist, who is suffering from a growing tumor in her brain, will face trial in Hong Kong next year after trying to cash a fake US$50 million check.
The decision to go to trial was made after District Court Judge Ernest Lee on Tuesday ignored a request from a defense lawyer who asked to halt the case due to the defendant’s poor health, sunwebhk.com reported.
Judge Lee set the trial for three days, starting in January next year. Maria Ilao Gosilatar was arrested along with a local accountant while trying to cash a US$50 million check at the Hang Seng Bank headquarters in Central on Hong Kong Island two years ago.
Since then, she has been detained in police custody. She claimed to be the chairwoman of a Bulacan-based charity called the Mama Mary 2000 International Foundation and told the court the check was a donation to her charity by unidentified people.
Later on she told the court she had received a report from Philippine police saying she was a victim of scammers, but she did not elaborate.
Read: Filipino charged with banking fake US$100 billion check