An Auckland woman, Ye “Cathay” Hua, has been given New Zealand’s longest sentence for money laundering, at seven and a half years. She was jailed after a jury found her guilty of 15 out of 19 money laundering charges covering at least $18 million which she had laundered through her currency exchange business, Lidong Foreign Exchange, on behalf of an international drug cartel. In November, Judge David Sharp deferred the start of Ms. Hua’s sentence by 10 days on humanitarian grounds. Ms. Hua’s legal team applied for bail to continue into the New Year, which was also granted by the court. However, that deferral expired on Jan. 17, and she handed herself into the Department of Corrections.
Her lawyers sought a writ of habeas corpus, which would have declared her imprisonment unlawful, and argued that she had the right to stay out of prison until her appeal was determined. They claimed that since she was on bail when her sentence started, she was entitled to remain on bail pending the determination of her appeal. However, Justice Ian Gault dismissed that application.
Crown Prosecutor Sam McMullan described Ms. Hua’s offending as many magnitudes more serious than any other case which has been before a court in New Zealand. The prosecution’s case was that Ms. Hua worked for a cartel headed by Xavier Valent, who was subject to a life sentence for importing, manufacturing, and supplying a range of Class A and B drugs.
At Mr. Valent’s sentencing, the judge suggested that some payments were made to the suppliers of the drugs he imported into New Zealand. The prosecutor said a “single money remitter in Auckland” had sent $26 million in drug profits to Mr. Valent’s personal accounts, some to his mother’s account, and some to a trust associated with others. Other transfers were made to various other international accounts, including many in China.
Ms. Hua repeatedly ignored red flags and caused massive harm through the peddling of methamphetamine, MDA, cocaine, and ephedrine, according to Transparency International. The sentencing judge for Ye (Cathay) Hua noted that there is no professional licensing regime for money emitters, leaving the sector vulnerable to corruption. The Department of Internal Affairs prosecuted Ms. Hua’s company, Qian DuoDuo Limited, after it moved almost $95 million from China to New Zealand without having enough information to trace transactions back to the originator.