Hong Kong Customs yesterday (April 24) conducted an operation to combat unlicensed money service and discovered a gold and jewellery shop suspected of operating a money service without a licence, in contravention of the Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO).
Acting on information, officers of the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) disguised as customers and conducted a test-exchange operation at a gold and jewellery shop inside a shopping arcade in Tin Shui Wai yesterday and found that the shop was operating a money service business without a licence from the Commissioner of Customs and Excise in addition to its jewellery retailing business.
Investigation is ongoing.
Under the AMLO, a person who wishes to operate a remittance and/or money changing service is required to apply for a licence from the C&ED. Any person who operates a money service without a valid licence commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for six months.
Members of the public may report any suspected unlicensed money service operation to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182, or dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Wednesday, April 25, 2018