【Acrylic Painting by Dennis Tang】
(Paintings and Photos may not be relevant to the incident described)
In the DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited v Pan Jing case , the Defendant used an unlicensed money transfers (also known as underground banks (UB)) to receive USD150,000 in his Hong Kong bank account by transferring RMB 1million to a third party bank account in Mainland China. It turned out that the USD150,000 transferred to his Hong Kong bank account was proceeds of crime. The transferring bank, DBS Bank successfully claimed for such money received by the Defendant.
In similar cases, the plaintiff may claim for a restitution based on “unjust enrichment”. The Defendant on the other hand may relied on “bona fide purchaser for value” and “a change of position without notice of the fraud” (e.g. fund used to purchase goods in a legitimate transaction) as defence.
UB are used by many companies and individuals to transfer large sums of money between mainland and Hong Kong, and there is always risk associated. Funds obtained that might be related to a crime or money laundering could be subject to a civil injunction and frozen by law enforcement agencies.
