HKSAR v. JACK LENNOX

DCCC316/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 316 OF 2012

----------------------

---------------------

Reasons for Sentence

---------------------

1.  The defendant in this case has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to deal with property known or reasonably believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable offence.

2.  The particulars of the offence are that between 16 May and 8 November 2011 in Hong Kong, he conspired with another person called Tony Bradshaw to launder just over HK$4 million, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that the property, in part, directly or indirectly represented the proceeds of an indictable offence.

3.  The facts admitted by the defendant are as follows.

4.  In 2011, the Hong Kong Police received a complaint that victims from overseas had been defrauded into paying money into a bank account of a company called the Recall Limited, a company that was registered in Hong Kong. 

5.  Upon investigation, the defendant was found to be the director of this company and a number of bank accounts were opened in Hong Kong.  They were accounts with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Standard Chartered Bank and the Hang Seng Bank.  They were all held under the name of Recall Limited and the defendant was the only bank signatory.

6.  The amounts referred to in the charge were found to have gone through the various accounts.  With HSBC there were three accounts, all of them were opened on 16 May and closed on 6 August and the amount which went through those accounts was just in excess of $3.27 million. A fourth account, with the Standard Chartered Bank, was opened on 1 June 2011 and was not closed at the time the defendant was arrested.  The amount going through that account was $805,343.20.

7.  The manager of Asia Business Centre (Holding) Limited, a Mr Wong Ka-wing, was interviewed, and he said that in early April of 2011, he received an email from the defendant requesting him to set up Recall Limited.  He did so and had mailed the relevant registration documents back to the defendant at an address in Thailand.  This manager, Mr Wong, has never met the defendant and contact was made by telephone.  Since October 2011 he lost contact with the defendant.

8.  According to the incorporation documents dated 26 April 2011 from the Company Registry, the defendant is recorded as being the founding member of Recall Limited and its only director.  The registered office of Recall Limited is an address in Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, and upon a site visit by the police, no Recall Limited company could be found at those premises.

9.  On 8 November, the defendant was intercepted upon his arrival at Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong.  Under caution, he initially remained silent.  He was subsequently interviewed under video recording and made a number of admissions and in fact he went on to fully explain to the police his involvement in this matter.

10.  The defendant told the police that he signed the account opening documents for the HSBC account at the request of somebody called Tony, an acquaintance of his.  He said that Tony claimed to him that he had been blacklisted by banks and was unable to open a bank account.  The defendant was told that he would receive US$3,000 and $90,000 Baht as a reward.  He knew Recall Limited was the name on the account opening documents which he signed.  He was requested by Tony to come to Hong Kong for the purpose of moving money out of the Standard Chartered Bank to the People’s Bank of China.  He did not know how much money was involved and what the account was for.  His passport was copied to Tony.  Tony purchased the flight tickets for him and although he had signed the bank documents, bank opening documents, Recall documents, he had not completed the forms.  He had signed the HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank accounts opening documents on the same occasion.

11.  He went on in further interviews to give full details of Tony Bradshaw. 

12.  The defendant is a person of clear record and is 63 years of age.  He wrote a letter to the court and that was adopted by defence counsel on his behalf and set out fully the mitigation which he wished to place before the court. 

13.  I am told that the defendant was educated up to Secondary One standard in the United Kingdom and he had held a number of occupations before eventually moving to Thailand where he currently runs a trading business.

14.  In his letter to the court, the defendant states that he suffered from emphysema and has lost 40 per cent of his lung capacity. He says that he was married in England for 15 years and there were two sons of that marriage, but they sadly died shortly after birth and his marriage ended amicably.

15.  He said he then moved to Australia where he was married and had three children.  The defendant said that his mother had a stroke and he went back to England and helped his father to take care of her for two years.  He says that his mother was helpless and could not speak or walk or swallow.  The defendant said that his marriage in Australia broke down but he did not formally divorce his wife and he says that he still remains friends with her.

16.  The defendant stated that he had to sell his business in Australia, and he subsequently went to Thailand where he met a retired friend.  He said he met the son of this friend who was called Toby.  He worked a while as a manager of Toby’s Bar and Restaurant and started a small art export business with a friend who lives in Australia whom he had known for many years.

17.  He said that he needed money for his business and also to renew his yearly business visa and he asked Toby for a loan.  Toby told him that a friend of his had been blacklisted by banks and could not open bank accounts.  He said that he had a corporate debt collecting agency located in Bangkok and if he opened a company and bank account for him, he would receive US$3,000. He said he trusted Toby as he knew his mother and father from back in London.  He said he met Toby’s friend, a person called Tony Bradshaw, socially and he went to his office where many people worked.  He said it seemed like a normal office.  He decided to go ahead with the offer and signed the forms and received US$1,500, and he was told that he would get the rest later. 

18.  The defendant said that he never went to Hong Kong for the opening of the accounts.  He said he did not realize the accounts were opened until they asked him to go to Hong Kong to meet the bank manager.  He said that Tony Bradshaw came with him and paid for the tickets and the taxi to the airport and they were due to return to Thailand on the same day before his arrest at the airport.

19.  The defendant stated that he has told the police the truth from the start and if he knew or suspected he would have been arrested on arrival in Hong Kong, he would never have agreed to come to Hong Kong.  He said that he has been frank with the police and given them detailed information.

20.  He concluded his letter by stating his father is now 87 years of age and mentally frail and he is his only relation in England. 

21.  The defendant has pleaded guilty to a serious offence.  The amount involved is just over $4 million although I am told that of that 4 million, some $805,343.20 has been frozen in the account with the Standard Chartered Bank. 

22.  I am also told that the defendant gave information to the police which led them tracing another account, an account about which they were unaware, through which a sum of $990,000 had been laundered.

23.  The gravity of this offence is exacerbated by the fact that it has an international dimension.  This was an operation that was started in Thailand and it arranged for a completely bogus company to be set up in Hong Kong, and for that bogus company to use bank accounts in Hong Kong.  Clearly, although the defendant said that he was not suspicious, he thought that he was dealing with a genuine businessman he agreed to be a director of a company which, to his knowledge, had no legitimate business and to agree to open bank accounts where he knew nothing about the monies going through the accounts. Clearly, he must have realized that what he was doing was wrong. 

24.  In view of the amount involved starting point for this offence is 4 years’ imprisonment.  I take into account the guilty plea, he is entitled to a third off for that plea.  I also take into account the co-operation which he has rendered to the police in this matter.  Certain matters have come to light of which they did not know about and he has been very frank about the people with whom he was involved. 

25.  For those reasons, I have decided that the sentence should be one of 28 months’ imprisonment, so I sentence the defendant to 28 months’ imprisonment.