Hong Kong legal leaders press cross-border crime cooperation
SingTao · 2 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago6 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong’s legal profession featured in the 36th Presidents of Law Associations in Asia summit in Jakarta, where representatives from both the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association addressed the growing challenge of cross-border crime in the digital era. Travel disruption linked to the eruption of Anak Krakatau forced both delegations to switch from planned in-person attendance to online participation, but their messages focused squarely on anti-money laundering controls, legal innovation and regional cooperation.
Key Points
- Law Society president Roden Tong Man-lung (湯文龍) spoke in the “Enforcement of Transnational Criminal Law” session, saying lawyers are the first line of defence against illicit funds through due diligence, beneficial ownership checks and suspicious transaction reporting
- Tong had planned a three-day official visit starting on September 6, but transport and flights were disrupted by the Anak Krakatau eruption, and Indonesian Bar arrangements allowed him to join online instead
- He cited Hong Kong’s first tokenised service of an injunction, where a court minted notice as a token and sent it via a public blockchain to a crypto wallet holding suspected criminal proceeds
- Tong said the Financial Action Task Force’s 2019 mutual evaluation rated Hong Kong “substantial” for effectiveness in asset recovery, underscoring the city’s standing in tracing, restraining, confiscating and recovering crime proceeds
- Separately, Bar Association Executive Committee member Chan Wing-ho (陳永豪) joined the September 7-8 summit by video, urging jurisdictions to review whether existing legal frameworks can handle emerging cross-border financial crimes involving digital assets
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the summit showed both branches of the city’s legal profession presenting Hong Kong as a jurisdiction that combines common law flexibility, compliance obligations and legal-tech experimentation in tackling cross-border financial crime. It also points to continued pressure on lawyers and barristers to strengthen anti-money laundering practice, contribute to legal reform debates and deepen cooperation with regional counterparts as digital assets complicate enforcement.