Yau referred in his page verdict to a newspaper report of a court case in March , in which Cheung Chi-tai was identified as the leader of the Wo Hop To triad. Yeung told the court that he did not know Cheung Chi-tai was a suspected triad, only that Cheung was "a business associate". The judge, who described Yeung as a habitual liar, did not believe his claim that the money was in fact used to buy a property in London.
Robert Jennings, a partner in Prince Evans, told the Guardian, however, that his firm "did not act in the purchase of shares in Birmingham City Football Club in or at any other time.
We confirm that in we acted on behalf of Mr Yeung in the purchase of a residential property and we are content that we complied with all necessary [anti] money-laundering requirements at that time. The Premier League in had again strengthened its rules to the current "owners and directors test".
It bars people who have "unspent convictions for offences of dishonesty", and requires prospective club buyers to show they have sufficient money, and the source of it. The Premier League took the view then, too, that as Yeung's conviction would not have been a criminal offence here, he should not be barred. This conclusion comes about as a result of the interpretation of section 25 1 of OSCO. When OSCO was originally enacted in , it created an offence which did require proof of the tainted provenance of the laundered property.
However, the legislature radically re-cast the offence in , strongly indicating that its intention was to make it no longer necessary to prove that actual criminal provenance of the property dealt with. This differs from the position in the United Kingdom which requires the property concerned to be actual proceeds of crime. Further, it was pointed out that unlike the UK where no immunity is available, the draconian consequence of the Hong Kong position is saved by the immunity under section 25A of the OSCO, so that a person with suspicion may obtain immunity by making a report to the relevant authority in Hong Kong i.
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Yeung's new lawyer said he has managed to raise money from an alternative source for the trial. Yau, who dismissed the prosecution's allegation that it was a delaying tactic, said: "Public money would be better spent waiting for the defendant to get his defence team ready and then proceeding to a swift and efficient trial. The company said last week it was in advanced talks with one of several prospective buyers of the club, but did not name them.
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