A male licensed money service operator was fined $12,000 today (January 2) and disqualified from holding a Money Service Operator licence for two months at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts for aiding and abetting other people to operate a money service without a valid licence.
Acting on information, officers of the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) earlier discovered a grocery shop in Tai Kok Tsui suspected of operating a money service without a licence with the assistance of the licensee.
A male proprietor and a female staff member operating the grocery shop were fined $10,000 and $5,000 respectively and disqualified from holding a Money Service Operator licence for six months by the court earlier for operating a money service without a valid licence.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, 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 operations to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Thursday, January 2, 2020