OpinionLaw that jailed cash mule is still an ass, whenever it was passed
Let's deal with the excuses that Mr Zervos has dished out to us for a rank miscarriage of justice in sending a little old lady to jail for 10 years on a grossly misconceived charge of money laundering.
Van der Kamp is wrong when he says that the [money laundering] offence was only passed last year. The legislation passed last year concerns the obligation for customer due diligence and record keeping.
He's right. I got it wrong. It was already a crime in 1995, even before the handover, to be suspected of having committed a crime. I now have another count of maladministration to hold against former governor Chris Patten. In excuse of my own fault, I can only say that a Jack of all trades is a master of none, and a financial columnist is certainly a Jack of all trades.
One day it's mobile phone licence renewal conditions, the next day the MTR's fare-setting mechanism, the following day our mortgage delinquency rates and then a money-laundering law that we borrowed from the Spanish Inquisition.
Along the way I got my dates wrong. Mea culpa.
And now let's deal with the excuses that Mr Zervos has dished out to us for a rank miscarriage of justice in sending a little old lady to jail for 10 years on a grossly misconceived charge of money laundering.