Proceedings against William Yan and Wei You under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, along with two of Mr Yan’s associates, have been settled following discussions between the relevant parties and approval by the High Court.
In accordance with the settlement, the High Court has made assets forfeiture orders in respect of property to the total value of $42.85 million.
This is the single largest forfeiture that has occurred in New Zealand to date and is the first that relates to crimes alleged to have occurred in China.
The activity underlying the forfeiture orders is alleged money laundering.
This settlement is a full and final settlement of the proceedings under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act without any admission of criminal or civil liability.
Proceedings were commenced against William Yan and Wei You in August 2014. Restraining orders were obtained over various items of property associated with the couple, including a penthouse apartment in central Auckland, a number of luxury vehicles, and substantial shareholdings.
Related proceedings were initiated in December 2013 against Yingzi Zeng and Shui Yong Huang, who are associates of Mr Yan. They were alleged to have assisted in money laundering and various property associated with them was restrained, including three Auckland properties, a Porsche and Maserati, and over $4.5 million bank funds.
Once the settlement sum has been paid, the restrained properties, vehicles, shareholdings and third party assets will be released from the restraining orders.
The settlement follows a complex three year investigation undertaken by the Waikato Asset Recovery Unit focusing on money laundering large sums of funds allegedly derived from a series of frauds allegedly perpetrated in China between 1999 and 2001.
“This is a significant success for New Zealand Police.” says Detective Inspector Paul Hampton, Manager Asset Recovery/Financial Crime Group, Police National Headquarters.
“The outcome in this case reflects the effective working relationship between Chinese and New Zealand law enforcement agencies.” says Mr Hampton.
The next process will be determining how the recovered monies will be shared between the New Zealand and Chinese Governments.
The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act allows police to target property derived from money laundering, even where underlying crimes allegedly take place overseas.
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Media please note that for legal reasons Police will not be doing interviews in relation to this statement.
Issued by Police Media Centre