My favorite activity on a Sunday morning is to visit my local wet market, but the conversation with my usual vegetable dealer last weekend was not about choy sum. She told me that her daughter, a fresh graduate who had always abided by the law, was charged with money laundering. In the end, the young lady was acquitted – but not before the household had learned far more about criminal procedure than it ever wished to.
And what was her great criminal enterprise? No offshore accounts, no suitcases of cash – just a well-rehearsed fraudster on a dating app asking politely to “borrow” her bank account for a few days. Believing she was doing a harmless favor, she agreed. The thing that ended up being thoroughly washed, besides the criminal proceeds, was the family’s peace of mind.
Stories like this are not unusual in Hong Kong. Money laundering is the process of dealing with the proceeds of crime in order to disguise their illegal origin. Under Hong Kong law, a person commits an offence if he deals with property while knowing, or having reasonable grounds to believe, that it represents the proceeds of an indictable offence. No proof of the criminal proceeds is required; a belief (if reasonably founded) that the monies are criminal proceeds is enough. Furthermore, allowing others to use your account, absent of evidence to the contrary, gives rise to an inference that you had such reasonable grounds of belief.
The shopkeeper’s daughter’s case was fortunate. Many are not. As scams proliferate – fake jobs, online romances, impersonated officials – the message is simple and urgent: never allow anyone to use your bank account. No legitimate business or authority will ask you to do so. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Vigilance is not paranoia; it is prudence.
Victor Dawes SC is the former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association
