Beilida staff seeks some freedoms

One of five persons who’ve been indicted for allegedly harboring aliens who worked at the casino project in Garapan has asked for some freedom that would allow her to take care of personal matters during the day.

Assistant U.S. attorney James J. Benedetto has opposed Xiufang Qi’s request.

A jury trial is currently scheduled on Oct. 31, 2017.

Qi, a Chinese national, was arrested on April 6, 2017, and indicted with one count of harboring illegal aliens. She was released last April 12 subject to some conditions.

Qi, through court-appointed counsel Steven P. Pixley, informed the U.S. District Court for the NMI that she has essentially been under “house arrest” with electronic monitoring and has complied with the conditions of her release.

Pixley said that Qi seeks some liberty to shop, exercise, and handle personal matters during daytime. He noted that the court had already imposed conditions that prevent Qi from fleeing the CNMI, including the surrender of her passport.

Qi is currently restricted to a one-room apartment.

Pixley pointed out that the court recently modified the conditions of release of Qi’s co-defendant, Hongwei Ma.

The court placed Ma under a curfew from 7pm to 6am. Pixley asked for a similar modification of Qi’s conditions.

In the U.S. government’s opposition, Benedetto pointed out that Qi was arrested at the airport while attempting to flee—the very definition of a flight risk.

Qi and Ma are staff of Beilida Overseas. The two other defendants are Beilida Overseas president Hui Lu and Beilida’s Wencao Guo.

A separate indictment charged MCC International project manager Yuqing Zhao with harboring illegal aliens.

Of the five indicted, only Lu has yet to be arrested.

The indictment alleges that on March 8 through 22, 2017, Ma, Lu, and Guo harbored an illegal alien, Yuanhou Hu, by shielding him from detection and which resulted in Hu’s death.

Hu, a Chinese national, reportedly died after falling from a scaffold at the construction site of the Imperial Pacific casino and resort project last March 22.

The FBI found out that Hu entered the CNMI as a tourist and was not authorized to work in the CNMI.

On Feb. 7 through March 22, 2017, Ma, Lu, Guo, and Qi allegedly harbored six illegal aliens.

A separate indictment alleges that from Aug. 1, 2016, until March 31, 2017, Zhao harbored 15 illegal aliens.

MCC International was the construction contractor for Imperial Pacific. Beilida was one of the subcontractors of the project.