Doubt raised over Carson Yeung’s knowledge of money laundering at appeal hearing
Businessman may not have known of criminal origins, appeal hearing told
The judge in the trial of former Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung Ka-sing failed to consider whether the businessman had grounds to be suspicious about the source of the money he was accused of laundering, the High Court heard on Wednesday.
In an appeal hearing, Clare Montgomery QC, for Yeung, said District Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong had failed to consider "what happened in [Yeung's] mind" when he assessed the evidence.
In February last year, Yeung was sentenced at the District Court to six years in prison on five charges of laundering HK$721 million using five Wing Lung and HSBC bank accounts between 2001 and 2007.
Montgomery was referring to a judgment handed down by the Court of Final Appeal in relation to money laundering. The judgment said it must now be shown that a defendant had reasonable grounds to believe that the property with which he dealt represented the proceeds of crime. Yau said in the reasons for his verdict that his decision was based "… on what facts were known to the defendant" and the question of "whether knowing those facts, a reasonable right-thinking member of the community would consider that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the money represented … proceeds of an indictable offence."
Montgomery said the test adopted by the trial judge was erroneous and the convictions were therefore unsafe and unsatisfactory.
"The judge has to reach a conclusion as to the defendant's actual thought and knowledge [in respect of the transactions]," the barrister argued.
Another ground for appeal raised was that one money-laundering charge, which involved multiple receipts of money in one account from unconnected persons over six years, could not be considered a single offence.
Montgomery said that the defence tactics would have been different if the prosecution had laid more specific charges against her client.
Speaking of cheque deposits from Macau casino operator Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), Montgomery said there was a possibility that the money came from legal gambling.
She said that since the judge did not hear any evidence on the gambling regulations in Macau, he could not draw a definite conclusion that the money was from indictable offences.
Jonathan Caplan QC, for the prosecution, will argue his case on Thursday.
