Carson Yeung wants security firms to explain documents on his behalf

Birmingham City soccer club boss Carson Yeung Ka-sing has requested that employees of securities firms and certain police investigators take the stand in his money laundering trial.

The proposed witnesses were compliance officers from the firms and policemen who had retrieved documents from these companies, defence lawyer Graham Harris SC told the District Court yesterday.

Calling the witnesses was intended to explain High Court orders the police had sought while gathering evidence, Harris said.

Those so-called production orders require the custodian of the documents to deliver or make them available to police investigators within a specific period.

Harris noted that the prosecution had indicated "the production orders had been complied with in full", when in fact, he said, there were documents missing.

He wanted the witnesses to explain what had happened, the court heard.

The defence yesterday submitted to the court newly found documents it said it had recently obtained from two firms. The documents were purportedly in favour of Yeung, the court heard.

Harris said he was not sure if there might be more documents to submit.The defence said the papers had a bearing on the money flow in five bank accounts with which Yeung allegedly laundered property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence involving HK$721 million from January 2001 to December 2007. He denies the five charges.

Yeung, a 52-year-old businessman, held margin securities accounts in firms through which he speculated actively in penny stocks. The defence is arguing that he made huge profits from stock speculation and not through money laundering. It is trying to establish the case that some money deposited into the five accounts was from off-market stock transactions.

Prosecutor John Reading SC will respond today to the defence's submissions.