Birmingham City owner
Carson Yeung has been jailed for six years by a Hong Kong court for money
laundering.
The businessman, 54, was convicted on Monday of five charges
relating to HK$720m (£55m) passing through his bank accounts between 2001 and
2007.
He claimed he had accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars
through stock trading, business ventures in mainland China, a hair salon and
gambling.
Judge Douglas Yau said the sentence must be a deterrent to
others.
'Full force'
The former hair stylist's trial was told he had lied about how he
made his money and Yeung was described by Judge Yau as "not a witness of truth".
The businessman was unable to show where
almost HK$100m (£7.7m) in his bank accounts had come from.
Sentencing Yeung at Hong Kong District Court, Judge Yau said: "The
sentence must include an element of deterrence to discourage those who are in a
position to exploit the system.
"The law will come down on them with full force.
"Maintaining the integrity of the banking system is of paramount
importance if Hong Kong is to remain an international finance centre," he
said.
Police investigators, who described the case as a difficult one
involving analysis of financial records from as far back as 2001, welcomed the
six-year sentence.
'New era'
Gloria Yu, a police investigator, told reporters outside the
courthouse: "We overcame a lot of hurdles to get this result.
"We are happy... and encouraged because fighting money laundering
is a very arduous task."
The BBC's Andrew Wood in Hong Kong said it was a tough sentence,
despite Yeung's lawyer asking for leniency.
"He'll be 60 years old [when released], assuming he doesn't come
out with time for good behaviour."
Yeung worked in the UK as a teenager before becoming a hairstylist
in Hong Kong. He made his fortune investing in Macau in the 1990s and is a
prominent property developer in Hong Kong.
He bought Birmingham City in October 2009 for £81.5m from David
Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham.
The Hong Kong businessman was arrested and
charged with money laundering two years later.
He is the majority shareholder but resigned in
February as president of Birmingham City FC, director of Birmingham City plc
and director and chairman of the club's parent company, Birmingham International
Holdings Ltd (BIHL).
His son, Ryan, 20, and brother-in-law Shui Cheong Ma, 52, remain on
the club's board of directors.
Acting chairman Peter Pannu said Yeung would not run the "club by proxy" from prison through
family members on the board.
On Monday, the club said Yeung's conviction would have no impact on
day-to-day operations.
The Football League has said it is satisfied with the action the
club's holding company has taken since the commencement of criminal
proceedings.
In a separate development, the sale of 12% of the club was
cancelled on Friday as the buyer, a Chinese media firm, failed to meet the
deadline set by the club.
BBC 5Live's Pat Murphy has estimated the value of the football club
has dropped to about £30m as it struggles in the second tier.
Fans' organisation the Blues Trust has said Birmingham supporters
are looking forward to a "new era" and want to put "this troubling period behind
us as soon as possible".
It has called on BIHL to sell the club as soon as possible.
Since Yeung took charge, Blues have won the League Cup but have
been relegated from the Barclays Premier League and are currently 17th in the
Championship.
