Accountant’s fake marriage scam backfires in deportation

A Malaysian-born accountant is facing deportation over a sham marriage plot.

Belinda Hui Cheng Yong outside the District Court in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire

A plot by a Malaysian accountant who entered into a sham marriage in a bid to obtain an Australian visa has spectacularly backfired with the woman now facing deportation after the scam was uncovered by authorities.

Belinda Hui Cheng Yong, 33, married another non-citizen in January 2018 despite the pair having no intention to engage in a spousal relationship.

The Brisbane District Court on Wednesday heard Yong subsequently filed seven statutory declarations as part of her application to obtain a permanent residency in Australia, which included false claims about the legitimacy of the relationship.

Daniel Caruana, for the crown, said Yong had first moved to Australia a decade ago in 2013 and the offending meant she now faced the almost certain likelihood of being deported.

Belinda Hui Cheng Yong leaves the District Court in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Judge Deborah Holliday KC said after arriving in Australia, Yong worked in the adult entertainment industry and obtained university degrees before becoming an accountant.

Yong pleaded guilty to one count of arranging a pretend relationship and seven charges of providing false or misleading information relating to non-citizens.

The court heard Yong had one previous entry on her criminal history following a sentence in the District Court in December 2021 after being caught with an amount of cocaine.

She was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment with immediate parole.

The visa-related offending before the court this week did not breach that order as it preceded that offence.

Judge Holliday took into account a number of mental health conditions suffered by Yong including personality and substance misuse disorders.

She acknowledged Yong worked and volunteered at a Brisbane dance school and displayed remorse for her offending.

The defendant was supported in court by her mother, with the court hearing she had financially supported both her parents who still live in Malaysia.

Judge Holliday accepted prosecution submissions that there was a need for the sentence to provide general deterrence to those who would consider engaging in similar offending “because of the difficulty in detecting crimes of this nature”.

“It is submitted that you participated in a relatively sophisticated scheme in an attempt to obtain a visa you were not entitled to,” she said.

“You entered into the marriage knowing that it was a scam and then provided multiple false declarations.”

A strong deterrent message needs to be sent that offending of this nature is not acceptable.

Judge Holliday accepted Yong would face hardship as a result of her inevitable deportation and she would be separated from her support network and the dance community.

She was convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with an immediate release on a $1000 recognisance to be of good behaviour for two years.

A “middle man” who helped organise the marriage and prepare the documents, using his position as a Justice of the Peace to witness them, was previously sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment with release onto a recognisance after he had served four month in prison.