Jake's View | Cross-border money flows can be made to look like money laundering
And so Carson Yeung was sent back to prison to continue serving a six-year sentence for money laundering. Well, I suppose these appeal court judges had to do it. They are constrained by the law, even very bad law, and this one certainly is.
Court of Appeal judge Mr Justice Lunn ruled yesterday that the case against [former Birmingham City Football Club owner Carson] Yeung was sound and that there was plenty of evidence Yeung knew the money he was receiving came from criminal activity.
And so Carson Yeung was sent back to prison to continue serving a six-year sentence for money laundering.
Well, I suppose these appeal court judges had to do it. They are constrained by the law, even very bad law, and this one certainly is.
The critical statement in the reasons for judgment came right near the beginning: "The prosecution did not seek to identify the predicate offences ..."
Money laundering is the offence of handling or dealing in the proceeds of a crime and yet nowhere in this judgment or the lower court's is there any mention of the crime from which these proceeds proceeded. The prosecution never cited one - "did not seek to identify the predicate offences" - and the appeal court judges never asked. Yet they upheld the conviction.