Solicitor and wife of former dairy firm director jailed for laundering HK$230m
PUBLISHED : Friday, 19 September, 2014, 1:47pm
UPDATED : Friday, 19 September, 2014, 1:59pm
Chris Lau [email protected]
The court had heard that between December 2009 and February 2010, Natural Dairy had raised HK$790 million to acquire 22 dairy farms in New Zealand. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A solicitor and the wife of a former director of listed company Natural Dairy Holdings have been handed long jail sentences for laundering more than HK$200 million.
Solicitor Wu Wing-kit, 57, was sentenced to six years at the District Court for laundering HK$68.95 million, and Ye Fang, 43, the wife of Chen Keen, for six and a half years after being convicted of dealing with proceeds of indictable offences totalling HK$230 million.
They had both pleaded not guilty.
Judge Eddie Yip Chor-man stressed that the amounts involved in both cases were substantial, and that in Wu’s case, his “ample professional experience” in the legal field meant he should receive a more severe punishment.
“Had he not been a solicitor, the starting point would be five and a half years,” Yip said.
The court heard earlier that between December 2009 and February 2010, Natural Dairy - formerly known as China Jin Hui Mining Corporation - had raised HK$790 million to acquire 22 dairy farms in New Zealand.
The deal prompted a complaint of fraud to be filed to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
Ye’s husband, Chen Keen, and two other officials from Natural Dairy were charged with conspiracy to defraud over the purchase of New Zealand-based UBNZ Assets Holdings. Chen was also charged with money laundering.
The ICAC said that of the HK$790 million, HK$693 million was remitted to a lawyer representative for National Dairy Holdings. Of that amount NZ$51.6 million (HK$334 million) was paid to the company that was to sell the farms.
A representative of that company then transferred HK$73.3 million back to a National Dairy representative, who wrote a cheque for HK$68.95 million to Wu’s law firm, Fred Kan & Co.
Wu then deposited the money into Ye’s account.
The court also previously heard that Ye had dealt with the money passed to her by Wu, plus a further HK$161 million, from March 2010 to October 2011.
The total amount of laundered funds was HK$230 million, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said.
Ye’s offence, the judge said on Friday, would have entailed an eight-year sentence due to the large amount and the international element involved, but the maximum sentence that the District Court could hand down is seven years.
Yip ruled that Ye was not under the influence of anybody else when she committed the offence.
Before sentencing, Yip said he acknowledged Wu’s contributions to local charities, and the fact that his family would lose financial support from a breadwinner. He cut the sentence from six and a half years to six years.
He also showed leniency in sentencing Ye, saying that her three children would have to live without the support of their mother in their formative years. Ye’s sentence was reduced from seven years to six and a half.
