Carson Yeung wins delay of money laundering trial

Carson Yeung, owner of the English soccer club Birmingham City, has been given four more months to prepare his defence on money laundering charges involving HK$700 million.

His application for an adjournment was allowed, on Wednesday, when Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong ruled that Yeung was not simply trying to delay the trial. The trial, involving five money laundering charges, was due to start on Wednesday.

“On the balance of probabilities and interest of fairness and justice, I found that I should grant the application for adjournment,” Yau said.

Yeung based his application on the fact that he had only recently secured the funds to pay his legal fees. All his assets were frozen by an injunction order imposed by the court soon after his arrest in June last year.

Yeung had not yet instructed a barrister defending him in the trial, the court was told.

When the prosecution opposed his application for adjournment, Joseph Tse SC, for Yeung, called it “hallmarks of oppressive prosecution”. If extra time was not allowed, Yeung would be forced to defend himself without legal assistance, he said.