HKSAR v. Shen Zhuotao

HCCC 246/2014

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 246 OF 2014

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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT: You have pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court to a charge of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence.

The particulars of that offence are that you, between the 18th day of June 2010 and 21 June 2012 in Hong Kong, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that property, namely a sum of HK$567,336,660.17, in whole or in part directly or indirectly represented the proceeds of an indictable offence, dealt with the said property.

I have taken into account everything said on your behalf, including the letters which you and your wife have written.

One of the past sentences cited on your behalf is the one passed on 10 June 2013 in HCCC 250/2012. There the judge seemed to have accepted what was said by the defence about the role which the defendant in that case, a Mr Yip Chi-keung, had played and what he gained from his offence. As to those matters, she felt able to rely on certain things which Mr Yip had said to the police under caution following his arrest.

As to the role which you played and what you gained from your offence, you are unable to rely on anything you said out of court. I do not feel able simply to accept what has been asserted by your counsel on your instructions. I have to look at the whole picture as it emerges, doing so in a way which is fair and balanced.

As made known to the court, the circumstances of this offence are as set out in the Summary of Facts which you have admitted. I will not recite those facts but of course bear them carefully in mind. Whatever the predicate offence was, the amount involved shows that it must have been very serious and substantial. The money laundering in which you engaged was prolonged, and you were very actively engaged in it.

All things considered, I adopt a sentencing starting point of 9 years’ imprisonment. The only effective mitigation available to you is your guilty plea, for which you will receive a one-third discount.

Accordingly, I sentence you to 6 years’ imprisonment.