The second money laundering technique used in Hong Kong is having a bank account opened by a third party. The Chinese drug rings involved in wholesale smuggling to, say, Amsterdam, Sydney and New York get round local legislation forcing banks to declare suspicious transfers over a certain amount by paying slightly smaller sums into the accounts of their front-men. The third technique used for money laundering is opening a dummy company, since Hong Kong is one of the most highly recommended places for banking along with the Bahamas, the Seychelles and the Isle of Man. Managers and lawyers ensure that those who order transfers of funds to off-shore accounts remain anonymous. A fourth technique is implemented by the unofficial banking sector, which has been particularly active since the last century in the Chinese communities of Hong Kong, Thailand and Southeast Asia generally.
Acquaintances ease the transfer of emigrants' money on the basis of mutual support.
The wide range of opportunities available to traffickers does not mean that the authorities are doing nothing. But the real number of dubious transactions has increased 15-fold over the past two years, according to the annual report of the US State Department, which quotes Hong Kong police sources. Although heroin carriers, who work in small groups, risk severe prison sentences in Hong Kong if they are caught, and even the death penalty in People's China, the authorities have the greatest difficulty in proving that a suitcase full of banknotes whose owner denies everything is actually drug money. Legally, the only solution would be transferring the burden of proof to defendants, which is far from being accepted either locally or internationally. Setting up undercover operations requires laying out large sums of money which the relevant services in the colony do not have.