Hong Kong | FT: Carson Yeung freed from jail

Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung

Carson Yeung, the colorful tycoon and part owner of English football club Birmingham City, was freed from a high-security prison in Hong Kong and given the right to appeal his conviction for money laundering, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
According to the London-based newspaper, the former hairdresser was jailed for six years in March 2014 after being convicted of laundering HKD721m (USD94m) between 2001 and 2007 in a high-profile trial that hit the headlines from Hong Kong to Birmingham.
The article by Ben Bland details how Hong Kong’s highest court ruled on Friday that Yeung could launch an appeal, which will be heard next May, and freed him on bail of HK$7m and cash sureties of HK$6m.
He is not allowed to leave Hong Kong and must report to the police station near his luxury home on The Peak three times a week, according to Derek Chan, a lawyer at Plowman Chambers, which is acting for Yeung.
Mr Chan told the FT that the appeal would be based on a questioning of the “elements of the money laundering offence” and that Yeung did not want to comment at this time. He added that Yeung would be released by Saturday.
At his trial last year, Yeung’s barrister, Graham Harris, said that the tycoon had “gone from rags to riches and he is likely to return to rags”.
Furthermore, according to the newspaper, in his trial testimony, the 55-year-old described how he set up five hair salons, including one in the luxury Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon, after returning to Hong Kong following several years in London and Paris.
Yeung claimed that his wealth came from the hair salons as well as stock market investments and winnings at the casino tables in neighboring Macau.
While Yeung, who drove a Maybach car worth US$750,000 and owned an 88ft yacht, will be free for now, Birmingham City remains mired in uncertainty about its future.
Yeung bought the club in 2009 when it was in the top-flight Premier League, but it was relegated in 2011 and remains in the second-tier of English football.
He resigned as chairman of Birmingham City before his conviction in 2014 but he still owns 28 per cent of Birmingham International Holdings, the club’s Hong Kong-listed parent company, according to the latest filing from the club.
Trading in the shares of BIH has been suspended since December and the company appointed EY as receivers in February to “protect the company and to preserve its assets”, the FT detailed.
Yeung has contested the appointment of the receivers in a Hong Kong court, while the receivers have also launched legal action against Yeung.
In June, the receivers entered exclusive takeover talks with a group called Trillion Trophy Asia Limited, with the negotiations about a possible deal ongoing.