DH jailed 16 months for ‘laundering’ $1.9m

 

A domestic helper has been sentenced to 16 months in jail for allowing her bank account to be used in laundering some $1.9 million in money derived from crime.

Leny Rose Regulacion, 38, received the jail sentence from Magistrate Ko Wai-hung in a hearing Tuesday (Oct. 28) at Eastern Court.

Regulacion had pleaded guilty a week earlier, but her sentencing was put off by Principal Magistrate David Cheung, who was then presiding, after her lawyer asked for leniency because of the delay in her prosecution. 

Magistrate Cheung acknowledged that Regulacion was arrested in July 2022 and was only charged three years later, in July 2025. 

But he said delay itself is not a mitigation unless it made Regulacion’s prosecution unfair. He gave the defense one week to provide a written reason why a delay in her prosecution should be accepted as basis for leniency.

Basahin ang detalye!

In sentencing, Magistrate Ko who took over the case used 24 months’ jail as starting point, and deducted one third for Regulacion’s guilty plea, to arrive at the final sentence of 16 months.

Regulacion was charged with dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence, contrary to sections 25(1) and 25(3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.

The case arose from the deposits and withdrawals of a total of $1,900,359.01 from her account in Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, between Oct. 12, 2020 and April 22, 2021.