A female owner of a grocery store was fined $27,000 today (May 12) at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts after being convicted of operating a money service without a valid licence.
Customs officers in May last year conducted an investigation and discovered that a female owner of a grocery store in Tsing Yi had been operating a remittance business after her application for a Money Service Operator licence was rejected. Therefore, she was suspected of operating a money service without a licence.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, a person who wishes to operate a remittance or money changing service needs to first obtain a licence from the Customs and Excise Department. The maximum penalty for such operators without a valid licence upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.
Customs reminds consumers to procure services from licensed money service operators. A register of licensees is accessible from the website of Customs' Money Service Operators Licensing System at eservices.customs.gov.hk/MSOS/wsrh/001s1?request_locale=en.
Members of the public may report any suspected unlicensed money service operation to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, May 12, 2023