Hong Kong court rejects Carson Yeung’s appeal on £55m money laundering

THE former owner of Birmingham City Football Club, Carson Yeung, is to sit out his full jail sentence for money laundering after a court in Hong Kong dismissed his latest appeal.

Yeung was sentenced to six years in jail in Hong Kong in 2014 after being found guilty of laundering £55m (HK$720m) through his bank accounts between 2001 and 2007.

He appealed against the conviction last May and had been out of prison on bail pending the outcome of the hearing at the province’s highest court.

However, after a panel of five judges at the Court of Final Appeal rejected his claims, he was escorted from the courthourse back to prison where he will serve out the remainder of his sentence.

The announcement comes at a time when administrators acting for Birmingham City FC said they needed more time to draft circulars to various parties regarding a possible deal for the change of the club’s ownership to Trillion Trophy Asia.

A statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said: “Additional time is required for the company (Birmingham International Holdings) to finalise certain information to be included in the circular including, among other things, certain financial information of the group and the advice letter from the Independent Financial Adviser.”

The administrators said they were delaying the release of the circulars until July 19 so that all the necessary information could be compiled.

In the meantime, shares in BIH remain suspended.