Man fined $4.5 million for money laundering

A 44-year-old man was today (October 9) sentenced to a fine of $4.5 million after he was convicted of charges relating to money laundering.

The District Court heard that in 2001, the man intended to remit 91,000 British Pound from an account with a British bank to an account with a local bank. However, due to a mistaken overpayment committed by the British bank, an amount of about 1 million Euro was remitted to the designated bank account in Hong Kong.

The bank in Hong Kong informed the man of the mistake but he failed to return the money. He subsequently remitted the money to three other bank accounts in Hong Kong for settling his own debts.

The Financial Investigation Division of the Narcotics Bureau took over the case for investigations.

The defendant was arrested in January 2007 and was later charged with three counts of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence. He was convicted of the charges and the sentence was handed down today.


Police Report No. 5
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Tuesday, October 9, 2007