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Jane Moir

Former investment banker Ewan Launder deposited millions in bribes by stuffing wads of notes into a shopping bag and passing it under a coffee-shop table in the Grand Hyatt, a jury heard yesterday.

 The 63-year-old, who was extradited from Britain last April, faces 13 corruption charges involving $43.95 million.

 Launder - who was chief executive of Wardley, the merchant banking arm of HSBC - received the sum between October 1980 and June 1982 in connection with loans that Wardley gave to the Carrian and Eda Group of companies, the Court of First Instance was told.

 He has denied all 13 counts of accepting an advantage.

 Prosecutor Bernard Ryan accused Launder of having the money deposited into a Panamanian company, Honeywell Investment Centre Ltd, and then investing it with another - Impact Finance Ltd.

 On one occasion, he told the court, Launder deposited a $4.5 million bribe from former Carrian chief George Tan Soon-gin into Honeywell's account with Impact Finance by sliding a shopping bag under a coffee table in the Grand Hyatt.

 A bag containing $2 million in cash, and the rest in cheques was 'unobtrusively' moved towards Impact general manager Thomas Bate, Mr Ryan said.

 Launder was 'at great pains to ensure that his association with Honeywell did not become generally known', Mr Ryan said, 'and when payments were made to Impact, that they could not be easily traced back to him'.

 'There is no evidence that there were any 'investors' in Honeywell other than the accused himself,' Mr Ryan said. 'The prosecution alleges that all the evidence leads to the irresistible inference that the money was the accused's alone.'  Impact allegedly moved funds from the Honeywell account to people or companies associated with Launder. By virtue of Launder's position within Wardley, he had 'a lot of influence and control over the granting of loans', Mr Ryan said.

 Launder became chief executive of Wardley in January 1980 after seven years with the company, which was renamed HSBC Investment Bank Asia in the late 1980s.

 Launder allegedly took bribes of $31.95 million from Mr Tan and $12 million from Chung Ching-man and his wife, Pak Choi-wah, who controlled the Eda Group, in return for favours.

 The companies caused 'substantial losses' to Wardley when they collapsed in 1982 and 1983, the court heard.

 The trial before Deputy Judge Gareth Lugar-Mawson is expected to last at least eight weeks.



Millions 'slid under the table'