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Hong Kong Customs has successfully made its first application to the District Court to confiscate crime proceeds of $1.2 million from the mastermind of a pirated optical disk (POD) syndicate.
The Confiscation Order under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO) was granted by the court on October 2.
A Customs spokesman said today (October 4) that the order granted by the District Court would send a clear warning signal to potential offenders. "It serves to cut off the financial source of the syndicates, in addition to the penalty of imprisonment or fine," the spokesman said.
"The case is encouraging to Hong Kong Customs in its fight against piracy."
In an anti-piracy operation codenamed "Polaris" on October 13, 2005, Customs officers seized about 30,000 PODs from a replicating centre and an outlet of the syndicate.
Financial investigations on the syndicate by the Customs officers of the Financial Investigation Group succeeded in tracing the crime proceeds of the syndicate.
A Restraint and Charging Order was granted by the High Court on March 15, 2006, for restraining the assets of the syndicate head, a 41-year-old woman. The offender was jailed for 16 months after being convicted on February 22, 2007, of four copyright infringement offences.
Financial Investigation Group officers applied to the District Court for a Confiscation Order. Under the order granted on October 2, an additional 27-month jail sentence will be imposed if the syndicate head fails to comply with the order.
Since 2004, Hong Kong Customs has applied OSCO to freeze the crime proceeds of seven syndicates -six in copyright piracy cases, including the operation "Polaris", and one in a trademark infringement case. The total crime proceeds restrained is about $107 million.
Ends/Thursday, October 4, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:20
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