Former Hong Kong councillor jailed for laundering HK$590,000 in phone scam proceeds

A former Hong Kong opposition district councillor has been jailed for three years and nine months for handling HK$590,000 (US$75,409) in telephone scam proceeds on behalf of a fraud syndicate, saying he wanted to earn quick cash to repay his gambling debts and cover his father’s medical expenses.Sheep Wong Chun-yeung, 31, had initially insisted that he was secretly gathering evidence against what he believed to be a triad-run debt collection ring when he received money from six elderly victims between May 29 and June 2, 2023.The defendant later retracted that claim when he pleaded guilty at the District Court in Wan Chai on Wednesday, admitting that he had knowingly dealt with money originating from criminal activity.Authorities disqualified Wong in October 2021 after rejecting his oath of allegiance to the city – a requirement introduced to ensure all public officers were sufficiently “patriotic” following Beijing’s imposition of the National Security Law in June 2020.The court heard on Wednesday that the six victims, aged between 73 and 93, had received phone calls claiming their children or grandchildren were in urgent need of cash after being arrested for various offences.The six victims handed over between HK$50,000 and HK$200,000 to Wong, who posed as a friend of their relatives, before he passed the money to an accomplice.