HK woman gets jail for money laundering
Source: Agencies |
March 13, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A HONG KONG public housing tenant was jailed for 10 years yesterday for laundering more than HK$6.8 billion (US$877 million) through nine banks.
Lam Meiling, 61, laundered the money between 2002 and 2005 with about 39,500 bank transfers, the Court of First Instance heard.
The defendant said she made the transfers on behalf of an unidentified woman who used to babysit her daughter.
The woman, who Lam said was from Dongguan in Guangdong Province, later became a factory owner.
Lam, who pleaded not guilty, had testified that she was illiterate and had been told to transfer the money to other factory owners on the Chinese mainland.
The money was laundered through Standard Chartered, Hang Seng Bank, Chiyu Bank, National Commercial Bank, Hua Chiao Commercial Bank, Dao Heng Bank, First Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Bank and Bank of East Asia, local media reported, citing court documents.
Lam received occasional monthly payments of around HK$4,500 for laundering the money, the Court of First Instance heard.
Justice Andrew Chan said that although the defendant was not the mastermind, it was unlikely that she was not unaware of what she was doing.
Lam was arrested in 2008 after a Dutch citizen filed a HK$300,000 fraud complaint that resulted in two of her many bank accounts being investigated and the discovery of the laundering, local media said.
As a free financial centre, Hong Kong has become a popular place for people to set up companies and conduct business, in some cases to obscure their assets through money-laundering.
In January, a 22-year-old delivery man from Guangdong was jailed for 10 and a half years for laundering HK$13.1 billion between August 2009 and April 2010.
Luo Juncheng laundered about HK$50 million a day through a corporate account set up with Chiyu Banking Corp.
Last year, the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit - a specialist police and anti-money laundering group - received 23,282 reports of suspicious transactions, up 45 percent from 16,062 cases reported in 2009.
Lam Meiling, 61, laundered the money between 2002 and 2005 with about 39,500 bank transfers, the Court of First Instance heard.
The defendant said she made the transfers on behalf of an unidentified woman who used to babysit her daughter.
The woman, who Lam said was from Dongguan in Guangdong Province, later became a factory owner.
Lam, who pleaded not guilty, had testified that she was illiterate and had been told to transfer the money to other factory owners on the Chinese mainland.
The money was laundered through Standard Chartered, Hang Seng Bank, Chiyu Bank, National Commercial Bank, Hua Chiao Commercial Bank, Dao Heng Bank, First Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Bank and Bank of East Asia, local media reported, citing court documents.
Lam received occasional monthly payments of around HK$4,500 for laundering the money, the Court of First Instance heard.
Justice Andrew Chan said that although the defendant was not the mastermind, it was unlikely that she was not unaware of what she was doing.
Lam was arrested in 2008 after a Dutch citizen filed a HK$300,000 fraud complaint that resulted in two of her many bank accounts being investigated and the discovery of the laundering, local media said.
As a free financial centre, Hong Kong has become a popular place for people to set up companies and conduct business, in some cases to obscure their assets through money-laundering.
In January, a 22-year-old delivery man from Guangdong was jailed for 10 and a half years for laundering HK$13.1 billion between August 2009 and April 2010.
Luo Juncheng laundered about HK$50 million a day through a corporate account set up with Chiyu Banking Corp.
Last year, the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit - a specialist police and anti-money laundering group - received 23,282 reports of suspicious transactions, up 45 percent from 16,062 cases reported in 2009.
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