Read the full judgment text of CAAR 1/2013 and CACC 35/2013 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 11 June 2013 before Yeung VP, Kwan JA and Chu JA.
Criminal law – money laundering – dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence – sentence review under section 81A of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) – manifestly lenient sentence – and application to treat Notice of Abandonment of application for leave to appeal against conviction as a nullity – Respondent's bank account received five unauthorized Canadian-dollar internet transfers totalling CAD$243,869.23 (about HK$1.9 million) – Respondent personally withdrew HK$1,906,800 in cash over six occasions and immediately took the cash to the Mainland – international dimension (Canada–Hong Kong–Mainland) – Whether the Notice of Abandonment should be treated as a nullity – Held: no, because the abandonment was a deliberate and informed decision (HKSAR v Law Sui Kei [2007] 3 HKLRD 114; HKSAR v Ooi Lim Khoon [2011] 5 HKLRD 100) – Whether the original 10-month sentence was manifestly lenient – Held: yes – the starting point for money laundering involving approximately HK$2,000,000 is about three years' imprisonment per HKSAR v Hsu Yu Yi [2010] HKLRD 536 and Secretary for Justice v Wan Kwok Keung (CAAR 13/2010); neither ignorance of the source of the illicit money nor absence of personal gain is a mitigating factor – personal and active handling of the black money, including cross-border cash transportation, and the international element were aggravating – family circumstances and compassion cannot justify an exceptionally lenient sentence – Sentence increased from 10 months' imprisonment to 2 years' imprisonment, taking into account the prolonged uncertainty caused by the review proceedings.
Legal issues: Whether the Notice of Abandonment of application for leave to appeal should be treated as a nullity · Whether the sentence of 10 months' imprisonment was manifestly lenient and outside the appropriate range
Outcome: Application to treat Notice of Abandonment as a nullity dismissed. Application for review of sentence granted; sentence increased from 10 months' imprisonment to 2 years' imprisonment.
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