nb post written at 23:35 BST, 29/6/11

Only at Blues, eh? When it’s not the neighbours poaching our manager, it’s the owners getting arrested for money laundering. This is what I’ve found out so far in the Chinese media.

Going from three HK newspapers, “Ming Pao“, “Oriental Daily” and “Wen Wei Po“, the following can be ascertained:

Carson was arrested at his mansion in Barker Road.  The Narcotics Bureau Financial Investigation team of the HK Police, who are dealing with the case took him and some documents from the mansion and later arrested Carson on five counts with relation to property offences and money laundering. At the same time, the police raided his offices in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Sources allege that over three months ago local banks became suspicious of large transactions flowing into and out of Carson’s bank account, each involving tens of millions of dollars of cash. Police have been tracing these deals and have come to an amount of HK$400million (£32million) that has come from unknown sources over the past few years.

The picture on the left is of Carson’s 86th floor office in the ICC, with locked doors, as published in the Oriental Daily. I’m assuming it was taken after today’s events. This is never a good sign in my opinion, because it means someone is preventing anyone getting in and taking anything out.

As of right now, there is no announcement to the HKSE, although I’d expect one to be made shortly. Share prices did fall yesterday, although they have been volatile recently anyway. Carson is apparently due to face magistrates tomorrow in connection with these arrests; the papers have said that he was detained overnight by the police but again I have no confirmation of this.

Right now, Carson has not been convicted of anything. The police are refusing to confirm the identity of the man they took away, so it has to be said that right now Carson is an innocent man. It’s worth remembering that some of our previous board were arrested on suspicion of tax evasion (although never charged). It’s also worth remembering that people have tried to smear Carson before, as I have covered in this blog. With libel laws being what they are, I’ve currently disabled comments from the blog. I’m sorry to have to do that, but I feel it’s necessary to protect myself.

As always, more as and when it becomes available.

Tags: Carson Yeung