Hong Kong student jailed for laundering HK$600,000 from fundraising platform used to help arrested protesters
- Yu Yan-yuk, who was 17 at the time, sent to prison for 16 months after conviction on money laundering charges
- District Court found Yu handled the cash as volunteer for Spark Alliance HK, a fundraising platform for helping arrested or jailed activists
A 22-year-old Chinese University of Hong Kong student was on Wednesday jailed for laundering almost HK$600,000 (US$76,620) from a fundraising platform used to help protesters arrested during the anti-government unrest in 2019.
Deputy District Judge Ko Wai-hung sentenced Yu Yan-yuk to 16 months behind bars for handling funds as a volunteer for Spark Alliance HK, a platform originally set up after the 2016 Mong Kok riot, to help arrested or jailed activists.
Ko said Yu had made 23 deposits and more than 90 withdrawals from his bank account over a six-month period between June and December 2019, during the anti-government protests, and handled about HK$585,000 related to Spark Alliance HK.
“The laundering period and the amount involved is relatively small and short compared with similar cases, and there are no elements of cross-border money laundering,” Ko said.
He added there was no evidence to show that the laundered cash was related to criminal activity, or that Yu handled the money despite knowing it was related to criminal offences – but that these were not mitigating factors.
“The defendant was not simply lending his account to others – he was the sole operator of the account,” Ko said.
He added he did not believe the defendant’s claim that the funds were donations to Spark Alliance HK to be used for the provision of humanitarian aid, as the organisation had a bank account and would not use volunteers’ accounts.
Yu, then 17 years old, was among four people arrested in December 2019 in connection with an investigation into the non-profit group.
He pleaded not guilty to money laundering, but was convicted at the District Court last month.
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Fiona Nam Hoi-yan, for the defence, said in mitigation that Yu believed the money was from legal sources and asked the court to consider sentencing him to time in a detention centre because he had committed the crime at a young age.
A detention centre is an alternative to prison for male offenders only from the age of 14 to 24. Emphasis is placed on physical labour and discipline in a bid to prevent young offenders from committing crimes again.
For offenders aged between 21 and 24, the period of detention is from three months to 12 months, with another year of supervision after release, with restrictions such as curfews.
“The defendant’s parents and girlfriend have described him as simple, helpful and passionate,” Nam said.
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She pointed out the defendant’s age at the time and that he had learned lessons from the experience.
“He has reflected deeply on his actions and said he would not make this choice again if he could turn back time,” Nam added.
“The defendant also said he was sorry for worrying his loved ones and understood the severity of his crime as he missed his grandmother’s funeral while on remand.”
But Ko rejected the detention centre suggestion and ruled that the nature of the charge and the seriousness of the circumstances were severe.
He reduced his starting point for sentencing from 18 months to 16 months because Yu had obtained exceptional results when he retook university entrance examinations and was admitted to Chinese University despite being under great pressure since his arrest in 2019.
