Woman, 80, denies HK$12m scam
A wheelchair-bound woman aged 80 appeared in court accused of channelling HK$12 million out of a charitable Taoist temple in Tuen Mun.
The court heard Lau Chun-yau, a live-in follower at the temple since the age of seven, was tricked into signing documents used to launder the money by a man she trusted because she is uneducated.
The court heard that the man, Lau Yeun-ching, who is on the run, joined the religious group Lin Fat Tong and won the trust of the temple's master.
Eventually he had full control of a company run in the name of the temple. Defence lawyer Corrina Tai Po-yuen told the District Court: 'The defendant is illiterate.
'She had no knowledge of what she had signed, including the bank documents. She signed whatever she was asked to sign.'
Tai said Lau Yeun-ching abused the trust of the defendant and manipulated her. After the money was channelled out of the temple the defendant, who had poor health, went to live on the mainland. She was arrested by police at the Lo Wu control point on December 13 last year when she returned to Hong Kong for medical treatment.
She pleaded not guilty to laundering, together with Lau Yeun-ching, more than HK$12 million between December 2001 and June 2002.
Senior public prosecutor Margaret Yu Kwok-wai told the court the money was paid by the government in 1982 for land owned by the temple.
The trial continues today before Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong. Lau was remanded in custody.
