A pier worker who used fake supermarket coupons to launder HK$1.2 million was jailed for 21 months on Friday.
Using the phoney coupons, Chung Chun-kit, 31, bought goods from Wellcome supermarkets and stashed them in a storage space he rented. He would later give the purchases to his employer for shipment over the border, for resale on the mainland, the court heard.
Police found goods in the storage space including 331 bottles of wine and brandy and 295 tins of infant formula, together valued at HK$180,000, the District Court heard earlier. They also found 3,537 fake coupons there.
The court earlier heard the goods Chung had purchased were worth HK$1 million. He also made HK$200,000 from selling fake coupons online.
Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng said Chung had reason to believe the goods he bought with the fake coupons – and the money he obtained from selling them – were the proceeds of an indictable offence.
Chung should have become suspicious when Wellcome and Citibank – which issued the genuine coupons – set a five-coupon-per-purchase limit and asked users to show their credit cards.