Carson Yeung jailed for six years by judge in Hong Kong
CARSON Yeung, majority shareholder at Birmingham City FC, has been jailed for six years by a judge in Hong Kong after earlier being convicted of a string of money laundering charges.
The sentence, which could be appealed, is less than half the 14 year maximum which could have been imposed for the offences.
Yeung, who had denied laundering HK$720m (£55m) through his bank accounts between 2001 and 2007, now faces having assets worth around HK$400 (£30m) ceased by the courts.
It is believed the prosecution will make an application on April 3 to have the assets ceased, which have been frozen by the courts since the start of legal proceedings.
Yeung’s defence lawyer had pleaded for leniency, claiming the conviction represented a significant fall from grace for the businessman.
The trial had been told that Yeung, who acquired the St Andrews club in October 2009 in a deal worth £81.5m from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham, had laundered the money through his bank accounts between 2001 and 2007.
Trial judge Douglas Yau had told Yeung he had been “self-contradictory” in his testimony and accused him of making things up as he went along.
Throughout the trial, the court heard differing accounts of how Yeung had amassed his fortune.
Yeung maintained he accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars through stock trading, business ventures in mainland China, a hair salon and legitimate gambling.
However, prosecutors had alleged he had been unable to show where almost HK$100m (£7.7m) found to be in his bank accounts had come from.
He was arrested and charged in June 2011.
Birmingham City had said following the conviction on Monday that the verdict would have no impact on the day-to-day operations at the football club.
“Birmingham International Holdings Ltd, the holding company, shall continue to support the football club under the leadership of the group’s new chairman, Mr Cheung Shing, and will work to raise further investment to support Birmingham City FC going forward,” it said.
Yeung remains the struggling Championship side’s majority shareholder but last month he resigned as club president and as director of Birmingham City plc and director and chairman of the club’s parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL).
