Haldanes achieved acquittal for a defendant involved in a HKD700 million money laundering case

Our partner Andrew Powner, associate Paul Wang and trainee solicitor Christina Ma were the legal representatives in a 70 day District Court trial. The Defendant was charged with two counts of Conspiracy to Deal with Property Knowing or Believing it to Represent Proceeds of an Indictable Offence (i.e. money laundering).

The case involved taking evidence from a number of Chinese witnesses in the People’s Court of Shenzhen under a Letter of Request to the mainland Chinese authorities, including mostly mainland Customs’ officials and a civilian witness. The defence team stayed in China for approximately 2 months, together with the prosecution and the Hong Kong District Court Judge in order to obtain this evidence, which was subsequently used in evidence at trial before the HK Court.

This case involved extensive cross examination of the Prosecution expert regarding different interpretations of mainland Customs Law, as well as highlighting the differences between the criminal procedures in Hong Kong and the mainland. The case also involved US extradition and alleged abuse of process elements, which led to applications to exclude certain evidence and a permanent stay application.

 

His Honour Judge Gary Lam acquitted both defendants on 10 July 2018.

Links to articles from Apple Daily and Oriental Daily:

https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/realtime/article/20180710/58424303

http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20180710/bkn-20180710121950077-0710_00822_001.html