(O6) (Live Presentation and Webinar) (RME Elective) Money Laundering

• Instructor: Rita Cheung

Date:  14 October 2023 (Saturday)  Time: 9:30am-12:45pm   Language: English  Level: Elementary

Speaker:         Dr. Rita Cheung, MCAL Solicitors LLP

Lawyer CPD / ACCA CPD / SFC CPT / Insurers’ CPD Pts: 3     Fee: HK$1,790

Highlight:

This seminar discusses the recent developments of the anti-money laundering regime. What are the new anti-money laundering law on regulating virtual assets (including cryptocurrencies like bitcoin) and dealers in precious metals and stones?

1. Reforming the anti-money laundering regime

Customer due diligence obligations

• Reform (1): financial institutions’ (金融機構)
• Reform (2): four sectors of designated non-financial business and professions (DNFBPs) (指定非金融業人士): solicitors, accountants, estate agents, and trust or company service providers
• Reform (3): 2023 witnesses a licensing regime for virtual asset (虛擬資產) service providers (Part 5B), together with a two-tier registration regime for dealers in precious metals (貴金屬)(Part 5C).

2. Proving the ‘criminal’ source of property in money laundering prosecutions

• Must the actual “criminal” source of the property be proved?
• Can ‘clean’ money be laundered?
• HKSAR v Carson Yeung (2016) 19 HKCFAR 279

3. The mental element

• What is the mental element on a charge of money laundering?
• Should the court take into account a defendant’s ‘beliefs, thoughts, and intention’?
• HKSAR v Pang Hung Fai (2014) 17 HKCFAR 778
• HKSAR v Harjani Haresh Murlidhar (2019) 22 HKCFAR 446

4. Solicitors’ role in due diligence

• Practice Direction P
• HKSAR v Wu Wing Kit [2017] HKDC 1064Remark: All eligible lawyers including partners, sole proprietor, consultants, assistant solicitors, foreign lawyers and trainees should take at least 3 Elective RME points each year. All solicitors can have 4 CPD points per seminar. However, we will give the priority to all eligible solicitors in obtaining elective RME points and CPD points.