Malaysian pleads guilty to Aussie money laundering charge
MELBOURNE, May 24 – A Malaysian who laundered almost A$6.3 million in five months in Australia and sent the money to China, was charged at the County Court here yesterday.
Wong Lai Yean pleaded guilty to nine charges, including six which dealt with property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of criminal activities.
He will be sentenced next week.
The Age newspaper has reported that Wong was arrested in the suburb of Camberwell last November, with A$63,000 in cash, six mobile phones and cash deposit receipts for A$191,000 in his backpack.
Prosecutor Andrew Sprague said the Australian Federal Police also found almost 1,000 fake credit cards in his home in the suburbs of Mitcham.
The court heard that Wong arrived from Malaysia in March last year and from June until November, he made 34 suspicious cash deposits totaling A$6,297,187 with currency companies in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Wong’s arrest with two co-offenders, who were later jailed, revealed financial transactions stored on his computer, the prosecutor said.
Sprague said police also found in his home a fake passport and templates for producing credit cards, as well as printers and pages of adhesive holograms with photographs of equipment to make cards. – Bernama
