Businessman Carson Yeung (left), who owns the English football club Birmingham City, avoids the media while leaving the Eastern Court Thursday. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Yeung freed on bail but ordered to surrender travel documents

Business tycoon Carson Yeung Ka-sing is free on bail after appearing in court to face five counts relating to money laundering allocations.

Prosecutors say the case against the owner of the English football league club, Birmingham City, involves a sum over HK$730 million, and deals with property known to be proceeds of an indictable offense or believed to be.

Yeung, 51, appeared in Eastern Court Thursday after being taken into custody at police headquarters late Wednesday.

Court was told, Yeung maintained five bank accounts, which prosecutors alleged were used to make suspected money laundering between 2001-07.

Three of the accounts involved HK$650 million and the other two accounts, in the name of his father, recorded transactions totaling HK$88 million. Yeung reported taxable income amounting to only HK$1.65 million, however.

The prosecutor charged the transactions were under Yeung's control and only HK$6,880 was paid in tax.

He was granted cash bail of HK$4 million and a cash surety of HK$3 million by the managing director of Sing Pao newspaper, Victor Ma, and executive chairman and CEO of Birmingham International Holdings, Vico Hui Ho-leuk.

The prosecutor requested that the case be adjourned for six weeks to exchange information with the defendant's lawyer and that Yeung be remanded in custody. The prosecution said Yeung, who spent only one third of his time in Hong Kong in the past, would be a flight risk.

Yeung's lawyer, Daniel Marash, said the prosecution had failed to provide evidence that the money in the bank accounts represented the proceeds of indictable offenses and that taxable income should not be based on the amount of money in bank accounts.

Marash said Yeung's family is in Hong Kong and he has no reason to flee and that Yeung needed time to tackle financial difficulties and relegation of the football club.

Yeung was granted bail, but ordered to surrender all travel documents and report to the police station periodically.

Yeung is slated to appear next on August 11.

Vico Hui of Birmingham International stressed the case would not affect the football club's operation. "It is the personal matter of Mr Yeung, so I don't think there will be any impact on the listing company and the football club," Hui said.

Trading in Birmingham International Holdings was suspended as of 9 am Thursday.

Yeung was arrested Wednesday night by officers from the narcotics bureau's financial investigations unit.

Yeung was initially a hairdresser. Later he became engaged in property, hotel and energy business. He also is a major shareholder of the Sing Pao Daily News.

Yeung bought the English football club Birmingham City in October 2009 after a failed first bid in 2007. He then changed the name of the company, Grandtop International, to Birmingham International Holdings.

Yeung is the first Chinese owner of a club in the Premier League but the company has become mired in financial losses.

According to Birmingham International Holdings Limited's unaudited interim results announcement, the loss attributable to the owners of the company for the last six months in 2010 was over HK$63 million, which was 16 times higher than in 2009.

The operation of the football club appeared to be going well earlier this year. Birmingham City beat the powerhouse club Arsenal 2-1 to win the English League Cup on February 27, ending a 48-year run without a trophy.

Later however the club was relegated from the Premier League during the League Championship round in May. The demotion means a huge reduction in the financial flow for the club, particularly from broadcasting and marketing deals.

mingyeung@chinadailyhk.com

Eric Sze contributed to the story.

China Daily

(HK Edition 07/01/2011 page1)