The two convicts pleaded guilty to a charge of "conspiracy to deal with property known or believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable offense" (drug trafficking) in the Court of First Instance on Nov. 7.

They were respectively sentenced to imprisonment of 80 months and 60 months, respectively. Restrained assets of the syndicate to the value of 10.5 million HK dollars (US$1.34 million) was also confiscated by the court.

Between 1997 and 1999, the two convicts conspired with other syndicate members in Hong Kong to "launder" 173 million HK dollars (US$22.17 million), representing the proceeds of drug trafficking.

This is the most serious money laundering conviction, in terms of the value of the drug proceeds, that has ever been obtained in Hong Kong since the enactment of Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance in 1989, according to the court.

It is also a demonstration of effective and efficient co-operation between Hong Kong Police and overseas law enforcement agencies in the global fight against drug trafficking and money laundering, an officer of the Hong Kong Police said.

It also highlights the importance of co-operation and intelligence exchange between the Hong Kong Police and law enforcement agencies all over the world in targeting trans-national criminal enterprises, said the Detective Senior Inspector Wong Chi-kwong, who is one of the officers in charge of the case.

There is no boundary for money launderers. Nowadays, a trans-national criminal enterprise takes advantage of banking and financial systems worldwide to launder the proceeds of their criminal activities in different jurisdictions, with a view to covering up the illegal proceeds, Wong said.

Wong said the successful convictions of these two key members of such a notorious criminal enterprise has sent a very clear message to every single member of any criminal enterprise that the Hong Kong Police is determined to target trans-national organized crime, and that we are fully equipped and capable of doing so.

The main difficulties in the investigation were caused by the involvement of a number of jurisdictions, including Canada, the United States, Thailand, Australia and China's mainland, and the fact that the drug trafficking activities did not actually take place in Hong Kong, Wong said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2002)