Police arrested 8 men attempted to rob foreign exchange company staff
HK Police ambushed and arrested 8 suspects for an attempt to rob two foreign exchange company staff on 13 September 2013. According to the news reports, the Police received intelligence that a gang of criminals was planning to rob the staff of a foreign exchange company. The Police arrested the 8 suspects when the gang attacked the two staff at around 8pm on a street in To Kwa Wan. The spokesman of the Police stated that this was an organized crime.
Laundering charge housewife 'had no idea about HK$13 million account'
Her personal accounts showed transactions amounting to HK$13 million, court told
Tuesday, 13 August, 2013, 9:04am
A housewife claimed that she had no idea why her personal bank account, which she used only for paying bills and school fees, showed transactions amounting to more than HK$13 million in four years, the District Court heard yesterday.
Kate Lai Yee-kum, 49, faces four counts of money laundering involving HK$12.99 million and £28,622 (HK$340,000) through four accounts between April 2006 and March 2010. Her husband, Shum Kin-wing, 51, was charged with three counts of laundering HK$14 million through two accounts over the same period.
Cheung Yiu-ting, 29, who is alleged to have deposited HK$400,000 into Shum's accounts in May 2008, faces one charge of money laundering.
All three deny the charges.
Prosecutor Susanna Ku Pui-fong told the court Shum and Lai ran a firm called Country Consultants and were the only shareholders and directors.
Country Consultants started business in 2006, and Shum and Lai declared incomes to the tax department of HK$130,000 and HK$120,000, respectively, in the first year. Between 2007 and 2009 the company reported it suffered losses.
But the firm's bank accounts and the couple's personal accounts showed multiple transactions. One of Shum's accounts showed 557 transactions, with deposits of more than HK$11.8 million and withdrawals of HK$11.67 million, Ku said.
Lai's personal account recorded more than 880 transactions, with deposits of HK$7.6 million and withdrawals of HK$7.5 million. The couple were arrested on October 11, 2011.
Under police caution, Lai said she used her two personal accounts to pay for family expenses and that her husband deposited money into her accounts from time to time, and that she had no idea about the transactions.
Lai's lawyer Wong Man-kit SC, told the court Lai was feeling unwell when she made the statement and was prevented from meeting her lawyer. He told the court the statement should be inadmissible.
The trial continues today.
News source: SCMP 13 August 2013 - http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1296204/laundering-charge-woman-claims-ignorance
Couple jailed five years for laundering HK$650m
A District Court judge yesterday jailed a couple who admitted laundering more than HK$650 million.
Tsoi Suet-ching, 46, and Wong On-hung, 45, pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering and were jailed for five years and four months.
The pair - with Tsoi's mother Ngai Lan-fa, 69, Tsoi's younger brother, Tsoi Chit-tsang, 45, and his younger brother's wife, Shi Wenni, 38 - were charged on a total of seven counts involving HK$983 million believed to have been laundered over five years through to 2009.
Tsoi Chit-tsang absconded on July 21, five days after the trial opened. Tsoi Suet-ching and her husband then pleaded guilty to three of the charges that went against them.
Judge Kevin Browne said he believed the couple were neither the masterminds nor the major beneficiaries of the scheme.
However, he said they had played a significant role in the scam and that the amount of money involved was substantial.
The judge allowed the prosecution's application to confiscate HK$5.46 million from Tsoi Suet-ching and HK$3.87 million from Wong.
The couple were ordered to pay the sum to the government by February 14, 2014, or face four more years of imprisonment on top of their current jail terms.
The judge, acting on a prosecution request, left all charges against Tsoi's mother and Shi on file.
But he refused to adjourn Tsoi Chit-tsang's case and decided to continue the trial on August 26, in absentia if need be, because it would best serve the public interest. The judge said the case was of such an "extremely serious nature" that it could be heard in the Court of First Instance.
Tsoi Suet-ching and her husband admitted they had laundered the money - mostly Hong Kong dollars, but also US dollars and renminbi - through the bank accounts held their names and in the names of companies under their control.
Under caution, the couple told the police that they carried out transactions according to Tsoi Chit-tsang's instructions only.
Tsoi Suet-ching claimed she suspected the money might be linked to illegal activities, but did not ask her brother, who said the money was connected with his business.
News source: SCMP 17 Aug 2013 - http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1297297/couple-jailed-five-years-laundering-hk650m
HK Customs requests all MSOs to set up a set of AML/FT policy, procedure and control for your Company.
We believe that you may have already received the HK Custom’s (HKC) notice issued on 29 May 2013 - C&E MSSB/6-20/5 (as attached). The HKC requests all MSOs to maintain policies, procedures and controls to mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. From June 2013, the HKC will conduct compliance inspection on licensed MSOs. The officers will inspect the AML policy statement of your Company during the inspection.
We, Inno Consultants Services Limited, have already prepared your Company’s AML/TF policy, procedure and control handbook. We can send the handbook to you within a short period of time.
Advantages of Inno AML Compliance Service
- We can assist our clients to set up professional and effective AML system and procedures, with over 100 AML documentations and forms
- We provide responsive, professional and in-depth customer search , and background and identity checks
- We provide independent compliance audit and relevant independent compliance stress test
- We can assist our clients to communicate with banks
- We can assist our clients to communicate with HK Customs and Police
We sincerely urge all MSOs to seriously implement the AML/FT policy, procedure and control in order to avoid being used as a tool of criminals / terrorist. Together we will defend and maintain the AML and anti-corruption image of Hong Kong.
If you have any questions about the above contents or AML/FT policies, please feel free to contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone at 3563 8766.
MSO useful tips: Frauds and Scams
You may have already noticed the recent series of fraud and scam cases. Many of them involved money service operators, for example:
- Fake notes – There was a Mainlander trying to exchange 100 fake US100 notes into HK dollars at a money changer in Sheung Wan on 9 March 2013. The money changer called the Police and the man was arrested. (News source: http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20130310/00176_032.html)
- Suspected fake ID documents and scam – According to internal news, recently a foreigner tried to use fake ID and other documents to carry out a scam. He went to a money changer and request to remit money. The money changer refused and reported the case to the HK Police.
- Telephone scam – A Mainlander was sentenced to 10 and 1/2 years jail term for laundering $13.1 billion in March this year. The case was triggered by a Taiwan telephone scam case.
Such fraud and scam cases not only may bring financial losses to MSOs. They could trigger serious consequence:
- If a MSO fails to report a suspicious customer or transaction within reasonable time, the maximum penalty is 3 months imprisonment and a fine of $50,000. (s.7.1 of AML guideline)
- A MSO involving in such cases may be subject to the HK Police’s or Custom’s investigation. If the MSO failed to comply with the Due Diligence and Record Keeping requirements of the AMLO, the maximum penalty is 7 years imprisonment and a fine of $1,000,000. (s.5 and s.21 of AMLO)
- If the MSO fails to provide the relevant customer’s or fund source information, he may be considered as assisting in Money Laundering, and the maximum penalty is 14 years imprisonment and a fine of $5,000,000. (s.1.22 and 1.23 of AML guideline)
In order to protect oneself from fraud and scam cases, MSOs must straightly comply with the Due Diligence requirements under Sch.2 of the AMLO. The money changers in case 1 and 2 were able to detect the suspicious customers and transactions because they are closely complying with the Due Diligence requirements and reported the cases to the HK Police. They have not only protected themselves, but to assist the Police to prevent more victims falling into the scams. As such, we would like to remind all MSOs to straightly comply with the Due Diligence and Record Keeping requirements under the AMLO, in order to protect your financial and legal interests.
We, Inno Consultants, provide professional consultancy and training services in relation to AMLO. These include: teaching frontline staff to obtain all required documents easily, assisting CO and MLRO achieve their legal obligations with ease, assisting MSO licensee to manage his/her business information through a computerized system, and achieving the HK Custom’s requirements easily and automatically.
If you have any questions about the laws or the above contents, or encounter any difficulty in implementing the requirements of the laws, please feel free to contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone at 3563 8766.