HONG KONG, March 7 — Lawyers for Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung pleaded for leniency today ahead of his sentencing for money-laundering, with the Hong Kong tycoon facing up to seven years in jail.

Yeung's lawyers said they were expecting a “significant” jail sentence for the former hairdresser, who was convicted Monday of five charges linked to the laundering of HK$720 million (RM301.8 million) through his accounts between 2001 and 2007.

The 54-year-old appeared in Hong Kong's district court in a dark suit today after arriving from a detention centre in a police van surrounded by a scrum of photographers.

Lead defence lawyer Graham Harris told the judge that Yeung, who built a business empire that included hair salons, fertiliser and real estate, “came from rags to riches, and he's likely to return to rags”.

Pleading for a light sentence, Harris said there had been “no subterfuge” in Yeung's dealings as the accounts in question were held in his own name and his father's.

He added that Yeung is a generous philanthropist and has a young family, with two children aged under three as well as a 19-year-old son.

Little known prior to his emergence in English football, Yeung took control of Birmingham City in 2009 in an £81 million (RM442.1 million) takeover from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham.

Judge Douglas Yau adjourned the hearing until 2:30 pm (0630 GMT) to consider the mitigation bid.

Throughout the trial, Yeung and the prosecution painted differing pictures of how the tycoon amassed his fortune.

The prosecution said the HK$720 million that passed through the five accounts came from “unknown parties without any apparent reason”.

Yeung insists he accumulated his hundreds of millions of dollars through stock trading, upmarket hair salons, business ventures in mainland China and investing in casinos in Macau.

He also said he made up to HK$30 million from gambling in Macau, adding that he gambled as if he were “running a business”.

It emerged during the trial that his business dealings included transactions with alleged triad boss Cheung Chi-tai, who has links to the Macau casino industry.

Sentencing Yeung on Monday, Yau said any “right-thinking” person would conclude that transactions between the pair were “proceeds of an indictable offence”. — AFP