Alleged remittance agent denies laundering HK$1.4b over five years
A man allegedly became a remittance agent to help launder more than HK$1.4 billion in five years to make a few thousands dollars a month, the Court of First Instance heard.
Yu Tak-kin, 59, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence.
He allegedly deposited and withdrew more than HK$1.4 billion from two Nanyang Commercial Bank accounts and a Chiyu Bank account under his name between 2003 and 2008 on the instructions of others.
Senior public prosecutor Raymond Cheng Hoi-chung told the court Yu had admitted in a police interview that he became a remittance agent in 1998 on the instructions of a man called Chung but only registered with the government in 2002.
He was instructed to open the three bank accounts and then inform his clients of the account numbers. He said he did not know the identity of the clients.
He received between HK6,000 and HK$8,000 from a man called Ah Chun for creating one of the three bank accounts. He created another account as instructed by a woman. Each account was used to launder about HK$400 million via a large number of transactions.
Yu was arrested at his home on Tai Wo Estate in Tai Po two years ago. He told police he did not know there was a problem with the money.
After Yu was arrested, his wife, Lo Sim-kuen, a co-owner of one of the bank accounts in question, made 15 withdrawals totalling about HK$15 million in two hours on the instructions of the woman who had asked Yu to create the bank account, the court heard.
The trial continues before Madam Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay.
