Carson Yeung planned mainland soccer empire, he tells money laundering trial
Businessman tells laundering trial he wanted to set up 50 mainland soccer schools and denies using 'dirty money' to buy Birmingham City FC
Barber-turned-businessman Carson Yeung Ka-sing aspired to set up 50 soccer schools on the mainland through the acquisition of Birmingham City Football Club in England as Chinese soccer was not up to standard, a court heard yesterday.
The tycoon had his eye on the English club because parents under the one-child policy tended to give their children the best, which would mean enormous business opportunities to run soccer training schools.
"Children go to school and learn to play football [soccer]," Yeung, 53, told District Court judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong. "When they grow up, they can be sent to Birmingham City Football Club."
The former club owner talked about his soccer dream on the 41st day of a trial in which he denies five counts of laundering ill-gotten gains involving more than HK$720 million from January 2001 to December 2007.
He also spoke proudly of his ties to the mainland, where he was given the title of honorary citizen in Inner Mongolia . "I was the first merchant from Hong Kong to invest in Inner Mongolia," he told the court.
Apart from business engagements, Yeung said he made generous donations of up to 50 million yuan (HK$63.21 million) to charities across the border from 2001 to 2007.
During charity functions, he met and took pictures with Deng Pufang , son of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping , and former Politburo Standing Committee member Hu Qili .
