Police launch new drugs cash probe
AN INVESTIGATION into 15 money-laundering cases involving millions of dollars was launched last week after a Privy Council ruling gave police the go-ahead to investigate the movement of drug proceeds through the territory's banks.
The Narcotics Bureau has also revived the indictment against two men at the centre of the Privy Council hearing, Lo Chak-man and Tsoi Sau-ngai, accused of assisting alleged heroin lord Law Kin-man ''retain the benefits of drug trafficking''.
Law, extradited to the US in December to face heroin trafficking charges, and his gang allegedly made more than $600 million over two years, which police believe was laundered through banks here.
Lo and Tsoi appeared in the High Court on Friday when their lawyer, Queen's Counsel Mr Alan Hoo, called for the hearing to be held before Mr Justice Thomas Gall, who heard their original case last year.
Mr Justice Gall ruled in August that Section 25 of the Drug Trafficking Ordinance was in conflict with the Bill of Rights, which provides the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty.
The head of the Narcotics Bureau's financial investigation group, Detective Superintendent Kenny Ip Lau-chuen, said their trial was unlikely to start until next year.
He said the group had been receiving reports of ''suspicious transactions'' from banks since Wednesday although most of the money had already been moved out of Hongkong.
The majority of the reports stemmed from the period following Mr Justice Gall's ruling when the banks stopped passing information to the police in line with customer confidentiality.
''I can now try to regain lost ground and catch up but it will take some time,'' said Superintendent Ip.
''I want to see if we can reactivate the cases we have had on hold for the last nine months.'' He said of the money already moved out of the territory, more than US$2.5 million (HK$19.5 million) had been transferred by one Hongkong gang based in New York.
Four gang members, Lee Kam-far, Kwok Jor-hing, Lee Sak-ken and Chung Siu-Chuen mailed the money to a colleague in Hongkong in US$50,000 packages consisting of US$100 notes.
The gang member, who is still at large, then changed the money into Hongkong dollars and deposited it in local banks before transferring it overseas.
When the four men were arrested last year, they had US$8.5 million in cash and an assortment of weapons.
Superintendent Ip said the receipts of 53 postal transactions to Hongkong showed they had made more than US$33 million in eight months, most of which is believed to be still in Hongkong banks.
