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Hong Kong Customs¡¦application to the District Court for a Confiscation Order under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO) to confiscate crime proceeds of $8.8 million from a pirated optical disk (POD) syndicate was made successful when the Order was granted by the court yesterday (December 30).
The masterminds of the syndicate were a 53-year-old woman and her 28-year-old son.
It is so far the highest value of assets confiscated under OSCO by Customs.
The syndicate was smashed in July 2004 under an anti-piracy operation codenamed ¡§Spur¡¨. During the operation, Customs officers seized about 50,000 PODs from a replicating centre, 3 storage centres and 8 outlets of the syndicate.
At the same time, Customs Financial Investigation Group succeeded in tracing the crime proceeds of the syndicate. Customs then applied for a Restraint and Charging Order from the High Court for the first time in July 2004 for restraining the assets of a POD syndicate under OSCO.
In August 2006, the offenders were convicted of four copyright charges and one money laundering charge. The District Court further ruled the subject case an organised crime and enhanced the sentence of the offenders by 25 percent. The offenders were eventually sentenced to 55 months¡¦and 37.5 months¡¦imprisonment.
Customs will continue to make use of the OSCO to restraint and confiscate crime proceeds to cut off the financial source of criminals.
Ends/Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:41
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