Update | Hong Kong cash spill: cleaner avoids jail as police hunt for 10 suspects caught on CCTV
More than HK$7 million remains missing five weeks after the incident
A cleaner who scooped up money dropped by a security van on one of Hong Kong’s busiest roads on Christmas Eve has been spared jail in the first prosecution over the HK$15 million cash spill.
Chung Ying-kit, 68, was sentenced to one month in prison, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty to one count of theft at Eastern Court this morning.
He admitted picking up HK$8,000 on the westbound lane of Gloucester Road in Wan Chai near Stewart Road when a cash-delivery van spilled millions of dollars in cash on the road.
The court heard that while Chung returned HK$2,000 to police, he pocketed HK$6,000 and later spent it on a Samsung mobile phone. He pleaded guilty to stealing the HK$6,000.
Magistrate Li Kwok-wai described the incident as “lawless” and of “a grand scale” when motorists and passersby took part in a cash-grabbing frenzy.
“All, including you, knew it was the property of others,” Li said.
But he exercised leniency on the grounds that Chung was old and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. Chung also promised to return the cash, which was not a great amount, Li said.
In mitigation, Chung’s counsel Kirsteen Lau said: “This occurred out of momentary greed.”
She said her client, a hard-working man who earns HK$7,400 per month, gave in to temptation when presented with an unexpected windfall.
The money Chung picked up was part of HK$15.23 million that went missing on December 24.
Three cash boxes fell onto Gloucester Road that day when the rear door of the G4S vehicle slid open.
The cash spill quickly attracted nearby opportunists to flock to the spot to snatch up the money.
Forty-six people have voluntarily returned HK$7.92 million since police lodged a public appeal to help retrieve the money, saying that those who returned the cash would avoid prosecution. One of them is believed to have handed in two bundles worth HK$1 million.
But HK$7.1 million remains missing as of yesterday, a police spokesman said.
In addition to Chung, six other suspects have been arrested, and the spokesman yesterday said police were still trying to hunt down 10 others based on hundreds of CCTV tapes available to them.
“We have clear images of these people,” a police source said. “We are searching for them through different channels.”
The source said it was possible those wanted by the police had picked up most of the cash that was missing.
“One bundle of HK$500 notes amounts to HK$500,000 and it is as big as a brick. If each of them took one bundle, that could account for HK$5 million,” the source said.
According to police, there was no evidence to back up news reports that mainland tourists had left their coaches and helped themselves to the money.
