White Collar Crime (business, corporate, company)
There is a worrying sign in recent years that there is an upsurge of white collar crimes in Hong Kong.
Actually, Japanese companies doing business in Hong Kong is no exception to this trend. The typical white collar crimes involving Japanese staff and companies are embezzlement, cybercrime, money laundering, fraud or forgery. From our experiences, we came across many companies being the victims of such crimes had adopted a negative approach in resolving the problems or even trying to cover up the problems by turning a blind eye on the matters. It goes without saying that we had seen many wrongdoers were let go. In fact, the culprits of such a mindset amongst Japanese companies in Hong Kong are mostly due to the worry of attracting negative publicity or the unwilling of getting involved in time-consuming investigation and court procedures in Hong Kong. However, this short-sighted approach would do more harm than good. In the long term, same or similar crimes may happen again, and talented employees may lose confident in working in a company lacking corporate governance. Having said, any company suffering from white collar crimes should instantly seek to advice from lawyers. All those fears and worries may turn out to be easy if early legal advice can be taken at an earlier stage until it is too late to be resolved.
Typical examples:
Embezzlements: Direct theft of company monies by stealing the petty cash of the companies or having access to tamper with the accounts of the company
Cybercrime: Hacking of company server; outsider impersonating email accounts of business partners or suppliers ( e.g. xxx@sony.com xxx@suny.com or xxx@soony.com etc.)
Fraud and forgery: Inflating the contract amounts and receiving kickbacks / commission
Money laundering: The dealing of all monies related to / originating from crimes
Common criminal cases in Hong Kong involving Japanese
刑事案件
舞弊・侵占受害（公司方）
近期發生多起由日資企業外派人員、採購訂購人員及當地職員所涉及的侵占案件。企業及員工涉及的典型白領犯罪，包括侵占、網路犯罪、洗錢、詐欺、偽造等。若對這類侵吞行為視而不見，不僅會造成巨額經濟損失，更可能影響在香港的信譽，甚至可能被總部追究管理不善的責任。
根據我們的經驗，我們曾目睹許多遭受此類犯罪侵害的企業，採取消極態度處理問題，或試圖透過放任問題存在來掩蓋真相。當然，也有許多案例中，加害者最終逃脫了懲處。事實上，香港日資企業抱持此種想法的主因，主要源於擔心引發社會負面關注，以及希望避免捲入香港冗長的調查與訴訟程序。然而，這種短視的作法，從長遠來看可能造成更大的損害。不僅可能導致相同或類似的犯罪行為再次發生，更可能使越來越多優秀員工對在缺乏企業治理的公司工作失去信心。此外，若公司對這類侵吞行為置之不理，越是優秀的員工就越可能選擇離職。萬一發生侵吞行為，必須立即採取應對措施。
基於上述考量，面臨白領犯罪問題的企業應立即尋求外部律師的建議。透過及早獲得法律建議，在問題演變成無法解決之前，這些疑慮與不安便有可能輕鬆化解。
典型案例：
侵佔公款：直接盜取公司零用金，或利用職權篡改公司帳目
網路犯罪：駭入公司伺服器；外部人員冒用業務夥伴或供應商的電子郵件帳號（例如：xxx@sony.com → xxx@suny.com 或 xxx@soony.com 等）
欺詐及偽造：虛報合約金額並收取回扣／佣金
洗錢：處理所有與犯罪有關或源自犯罪的資金
香港涉及日本人的常見刑事案件
My family member has been arrested. 家人被逮捕了。
I do not want to get a criminal record. 不想留下前科。
-Theft
-Indecent Assault
-Sex offence
-Unlawful employment
How an arrest take place
In general, upon receiving complaints from victims, unless the complaint is clearly vexatious; unsustainable or ungrounded, in most situations, the law enforcement body (police, ICAC, customs etc.) will take “immediate” action to arrest the suspect for investigation. Worse still, the arrest will usually take place at night (or even mid-night). Since many Japanese people are having no local connections in Hong Kong, close relative or friend are not ready to stand by to provide any assistance, and the arrested person will end up facing the situation helplessly alone and the pressure of being detained in custody is insurmountable. This kind of pressure could be devastating because the arrested person will be tempted to commit the fatal mistake of “explaining his innocence” or “simply admitting the crime” simply for the (wrong) purpose of a quick release to go home. Actually, the pressure and mistake is avoidable if you know the fundamental right of an arrested person – the right to legal access. In Hong Kong, the arrested person is fully entitled to engage a lawyer to accompany him and provide legal advice during his detention and investigation by the authorities. Since it is outright illegal for the law enforcement body to prohibit you to engage legal representative, they (or through the interpreter) will make up many excuses during the side-talk on order to “discourage” you to engage a lawyer to represent you, in a very subtle way, such as:
- Lawyer is very expensive
- Lawyer is of no use
- The matter (crime) is just very trivial, why try to engage a lawyer?
- The lawyer will only delay our investigation, why we waste the time in waiting for a lawyer to come, we all want to finish and you want to go home as soon as possible, right?
Therefore, you must be very careful if you hear the above “advice”, which is a subtle way of dissuading you from contacting a lawyer.
Procedure of investigation
Investigation is not that formidable as you may think (if you have a lawyer to accompany or you are a seasoned criminal). The investigation will usually be conducted in a tiny room in the presence of a Japanese-Cantonese interpreter (arranged by the police). However, if you engage us, our Mr. Andy Cheng (conversant in both Japanese and Cantonese) will provide full professional assistance to you and your nervousness (and the risk of making mistakes) will be greatly reduced.
After the investigation, the authority may consider prosecute you and in such a case, we will be defending your case vigorously. Unlike Japan, where 99% of cases under prosecution will lead to an adjudication of guilty. In Hong Kong, we are experienced in exploring other options with the court and prosecution including bind-over, offer-no-evidence and also we are experienced in mitigation for punishment other than a prison term such as paying a fine, suspended sentence or community service order.
Speed (to engage legal representative) is extremely in criminal matters. In the unfortunate event that you are arrested, please contact us immediately (even at night time). It is imperative to remain you that it is in your best interest to have a lawyer to represent you.
竊盜
偷拍・猥褻
毆打・傷害
非法就業
職務侵占
當警方、廉政公署（ICAC）或海關有合理懷疑，或該人士涉嫌犯罪時，警方、廉政公署（ICAC）及海關均可將該人士逮捕。在調查期間，警方、廉政公署（ICAC）或海關可將該人羈押，通常家屬無法與其聯繫。因此，我們律師可代表家屬或朋友前往警署、廉政公署（ICAC）或海關，提供法律建議。此外，在香港，警方訊問時允許律師在場。在海外突然被逮捕，會帶來極大的壓力。特別是刑事案件，初期應對至關重要，因此被捕後應立即在律師在場的情況下接受訊問，此為上策。我們常聽見嫌疑人反映，警方或翻譯會說：「沒有律師也沒關係」、「認罪才能早點獲釋」，或是「律師到場前後，警方的態度截然不同」。在訊問時請律師在場陪同至關重要，這一點再怎麼強調都不為過。
訊問通常以粵語進行，並由政府指派的日語口譯員協助，但安迪律師能聽懂警員之間的粵語對話，這正是他的優勢所在。在語言方面，相信這能讓您感到安心；此外，對於香港而言，外國人的案件在簽證、口譯等需考量的事項上，與香港本地人有所不同，而安迪律師在處理這類外國人（包括日本人）的刑事案件方面，擁有豐富的經驗。
萬一您已經完成訊問，我們仍會竭力避免您被起訴或定罪。即使被起訴後，香港也不會像日本那樣有99%的定罪率，因此律師會致力爭取不起訴處分、緩刑、社會服務或實刑等，以盡可能減輕刑責。事實上，我們曾多次成功協助當事人免於定罪，或避免入獄。
刑事案件中，速度至關重要。萬一您遭到逮捕或接受訊問時，即使是深夜，也請務必立即與我們聯繫。我們強烈建議您務必聘請律師。
