Single Judge of the Court of Appeal granted bail pending appeal to an Applicant convicted in the District Court of Handling Proceeds of Crime (commonly known as money laundering).

The Applicant (who was D1 at trial) pleaded not guilty to a charge of money laundering and stood trial before HHJ Stanley Chan. The charge, which took place in or about mid-autumn festival in September 2015, was that a company which D1 was the sole director, sole shareholder, and sole signatory of the bank account thereof, handled proceeds of crime of a mooncake coupon scam. After an unsuccessful application for permanent stay of proceeding, D1 was convicted after trial. The Judge sentenced D1 to a prison term of 33 months.

In his Reasons for Verdict, the Judge said “[62]. A defendant does not have to prove anything. 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑛𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴/𝐶 1 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 As the account holder of A/C 1, it is no doubt that D1 did deal with the proceeds, even though it was allegedly also done by [his elder brother]”. The Judge also said that “[61]. …𝘈𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

Hon K Yeung J held that there was “𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆” in the Applicant’s submission that the Judge held the view that a defendant in a money laundering charge had the onus of disproving knowledge. Further, the Judge did not make any reference to or mention of the Court of Final Appeal authority of 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒋𝒂𝒏𝒊 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒓 (2019) 22 HKCFAR 446 (which requires a court to consider the perception and/or bias one may have). Bail pending appeal was granted on merits basis.

Simon So appeared with Herman Ho for D1 in the 8-day trial before HHJ Stanely Chan. The Reasons for Verdict and the Reasons for Sentence could be found in https://lnkd.in/g2Ki7gVx and https://lnkd.in/gx_BRuzh respectively.

Simon So appeared with Herman Ho and Jack Hui in making an application for bail pending appeal. The Judgment was published on https://lnkd.in/gEVT-wS9.