HK courts to impose higher sentences for money laundering offences

 

The stricter penalties were announced in a District Court case involving $8.8M in illicit funds

The Department of Justice in Hong Kong is seeking to get higher sentences imposed on people found guilty of money laundering,  in line with new sentencing guidelines set by the Court of Appeal.

This was disclosed in today’s hearing of a case filed against Filipina Lynie B. Acosta, who is charged with three counts of money laundering involving a total of $8.83 million, the highest amount ever recorded for a case involving a foreign domestic helper.

District Court Judge Wong Kwai Kin told 39-year-old Acosta that she will be facing a higher sentence, as advised in a letter sent to her by the DOJ, citing the new guidelines set by the CA as a result of the growing prevalence of money laundering cases in the community.

The gravity of the sentence will depend on the amount involved, and could be mitigated if the accused pleads guilty to the offence. 

Basahin ang detalye!

Judge Wong then granted Acosta’s application for an adjournment so she could seek further legal advice. He set the next hearing on Feb. 25 next year and remanded her in custody, after noting that she failed to meet the $100,000 bail recommended for her temporary release by a magistrate earlier.

During the hearing on Oct 3 before Principal Magistrate Don So at Eastern Court, Acosta offered to post a $5,000 bail, saying her employer needed her help in looking after her son and sick mother.

Acosta’s lawyer also told the court her husband died recently in the Philippines, and she was desperate to continue working to pay off the hospital and burial bills and support her children.

Magistrate So said he would allow Acosta to post bail, but raised the amount to $100,000.

The Filipina faces three counts of dealing with “property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense,” otherwise known as money laundering, n violation of section 25(1) and 25(3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.

She is charged with dealing with a total amount $8,597,833.36 in her Mox bank account between March 25 and May 19, 2023. She is alleged to have dealt with the money with the help of two persons, one named Jane Corpuz and another unknown.

The same persons were also cited as having helped Acosta deal with $192,940.08 in her account with Standard Chartered Bank, and with $45,100.78 in her account with with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, both on March 31, 2023.

Under the Ordinance, the maximum sentence for money laundering is imprisonment for 14 years and a fine of $5 million.

One of the highest sentences on record was that imposed on former employment agency owner Ester Ylagan, who was ordered jailed for 32 months in Febuary this year. 

Ylagan admitted laundering a total of $5.7 million, which she made by offering non-existent jobs in Canada and United Kingdom to Filipinos in Hong Kong and Macau.