16 February,2024 04:19 PM IST | Beijing/Hong Kong | mid-day online correspondent
Hong Kong customs arrest seven in USD 1.8 billion money laundering case linked to India`s mobile app scam. Representational Picture/iStock
Hong Kong authorities arrested seven persons on Friday in connection with what has been deemed the territory's largest money-laundering operation, amounting to a staggering HKD 14 billion (USD 1.8 billion).
Some of the significant amount "was linked to a mobile app scam case in India", newswire PTI reported.
According to Suzette Ip Tung-ching, the head of Hong Kong's customs' financial investigation bureau, the syndicate employed "stooge" bank accounts and shell companies to facilitate the transfer of funds. Of particular note is the alleged involvement of two jewellery companies in India, which are said to have handled approximately HKD 2.9 billion (USD 371 million) of the laundered funds.
"The operation was linked to a mobile app scam in India and two jewellery companies in the country, which allegedly handled about HKD2.9 billion (USD 371 million) of the funds," PTI reported quoting Suzette Ip Tung-ching.
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Ip described the amounts laundered as "astonishing" with one of the accounts receiving as much as HKD100 million (USD 12.8 million) a day and carrying out as many as 50 daily transactions.
Some of those arrested were non-Chinese residents of Hong Kong, she said without giving details.
Law enforcement in Hong Kong, India, and elsewhere cooperated in carrying out the operation, enabling its success, Ip said.
She said the suspects were accused of laundering the cash through transactions involving gemstones and electronics, with the group, including a 34-year-old man, believed to be the mastermind, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper reported.
His wife, brother and father were also arrested, as well as three other Hong Kong residents accused of setting up a large number of shell companies and stooge bank accounts to trade electronics, gemstones and jewellery.
"These bank accounts were used for receiving multiple local and overseas transactions before conducting complicated and frequent trades with multiple layers of laundering," Ip said.
According to police, stooge account holders are those who loan or sell their bank accounts to syndicates to collect scammed money and launder crime proceeds in exchange for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Ip added that authorities had spotted a significant discrepancy between the bank transactions valued at billions involving companies registered under their names and import and export declarations of about HKD 90 million (USD 11.50).
The Associated Press reported from Hong Kong quoting Yu Yiu-wing, the bureau's divisional commander as saying that officers exchanged intelligence with Indian authorities and found some of the money came from two jewellery companies that Indian authorities said were connected to the scam.
Officials have confiscated electronic devices, documents, and over 8,000 carats of suspected synthetic gemstones apparently meant for export to India.
The previous record money laundering case involved about 6 billion Hong Kong dollars (USD 767 million) and arrests of nine people in January 2023.
China's law enforcement officers have been detaining a large number of Chinese telecom involved in telecom fraud cases and money laundering abroad in recent months.
Chinese public security departments have cracked 391,000 cases of telecom and online fraud from January to November 2023, the country's Ministry of Public Security said last month.
To deliver a heavy blow to relevant criminal activities, the ministry in 2023 launched several law enforcement campaigns targeting telecom and online fraud, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on January 5.
In total, 79,000 suspects were apprehended, including 263 persons who financed, led, or were in charge of such activities.
The ministry has also dispatched work teams to countries including Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia to participate in international law enforcement missions.
Multiple overseas criminal dens were destroyed, and more than 3,000 suspects were captured in the process, the report said. (With inputs from agencies)
