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HONG KONG: The wife of Singapore's former National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chairman Richard Yong has pleaded guilty to a money-laundering charge in Hong Kong.
Mdm On Shu Kio faces a maximum of 14 years in jail and a fine of up to US$640,000. She was arrested by Hong Kong police in July last year on money-laundering charges.
In Hong Kong's District Court on Monday, Mdm On pleaded guilty to one count of helping her husband to help transfer about US$2.6 million from their joint account in Singapore to a British ING Bank account.
In mitigation, Mdm On maintained that three-quarters of the money frozen in Hong Kong belonged to her, and that she was unaware that her husband was a bankrupt when she made the transfer.
She also revealed that her life savings have been used in legal costs for both her husband and herself.
Her defence counsel applied for her sentencing to be adjourned so that she can help to fully settle the judgment debt against her husband in a Singapore civil suit by December 13. The judge granted a seven-day adjournment.
The 66-year-old has been remanded in custody and is awaiting sentencing on December 16.
The guilty plea is the latest fallout from a scandal that rocked the charity and its senior officers. Yong had earlier been convicted of illegally transferring S$3.92 million (US$2.57 million) into his wife's account in Hong Kong, according to the records of Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department.
Yong transferred the money in an effort to avoid paying damages ordered by a court in a case brought by the charity's new management against him for breach of duty.
On May 17 last year, he fled Singapore with his wife for Hong Kong just hours after a high court declared him bankrupt, the records showed.
He was later repatriated and sentenced to jail for 15 months in September 2007, the records said.
The charity's mishandling of funds was revealed after the foundation's former chief executive, T.T. Durai, filed a defamation suit against The Straits Times in 2005.
The case backfired spectacularly after Durai was forced to reveal his S$600,000 annual salary and perks, including first-class flights paid for by donors' funds and the upkeep of his Mercedes.
He also admitted the foundation had grossly misled the public over how long its reserves of S$260 million would last if donations stopped, as well as how many patients it treated each year.
- CNA/so
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