Hong Kong has clawed back almost HK$2.7 billion in ill-gotten criminal gains from gangsters, money launderers and drug traffickers in the past two decades, according to new figures obtained by the Sunday Morning Post.
A further HK$8.4 billion has been “restrained” or put beyond the reach of crime lords over the same period thanks to the landmark Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO) which turns 20 this year and was designed to hit criminals where it hurts most – in the pocket.
Official figures – published for the first time today – also reveal that the amount of criminal assets recovered by the government in the past 10 years – a total of HK$2.6 billion – is 28 times more than was recovered in the preceding decade under OSCO.
As concerns mount about creeping crime rates after a wave of robberies at the homes of some of the city’s wealthiest residents and the kidnap for ransom of a city heiress, one of the law’s main architects, senior counsel Michael Blanchflower, said it was as relevant today as it was when it was conceived two decades ago