October 6, 2016
An Indonesian domestic helper who told a court that she believed money laundering was to wash dollar notes with water, was convicted of the crime on Thursday over a bank account she lent to a friend for illegal activities. Siti Rianah, 30, set up and let others use her Hang Seng bank account to deposit more than HK$1 million from illicit loan activities that boasted a 1,000 per cent annual interest rate in 2012, the court heard. The highest legal interest rate in Hong Kong is 60 per cent.
During the trial, the helper testified that she had never heard of money laundering until her friend, Suryati, phoned her and told her of such a problem happening to her bank account. Judge Shum Siu-man recalled asking her about it. “She said it was like doing laundry, that is to wash dollar notes with water,” the judge cited in his written verdict handed down on Thursday.