Duo Guilty In Film-prop Notes Case, But Not Jailed

Two men arrested with fake money used as movie props were found guilty on Thursday of possessing counterfeit notes, but were let off with suspended jail sentences.

Law Yun-lam, an employer of a logistics firm, and Cheung Wai-chuen, a film props company owner, were found with the notes in 2016.

Police discovered 10,000 of them in Law's car and a further search found over 200,000 at Cheung's store. The notes resembled Hong Kong dollars, yuan, US dollars, British pounds, and euros

In her judgement, Eastern Court Magistrate Cheung Kit-yee said that the duo didn't hold the fake notes for illegal use. But there was still risk that others could use the notes as counterfiet money.

She also said that the prop money looked similar to legal tender, and a careful inspection was needed to see the word "props" printed of them.

She said people can't hold such counterfeit notes and should hand them over to the police if they come across any. The magistrate said no authority can allow people to possess fake notes.

The firm's prop cash had been used in various movies, including the award-winning action film, Trivisa.

In mitigation, Cheung’s lawyer said this case was the first of its kind in Hong Kong’s history, and her client had violated the law unintentionally.

She said had he knew this was illegal, he would’ve worked with government departments to make sure every facet of film-making complied with the law. The lawyer said nobody in the filming industry knew that using the props constitutes holding counterfeit money.

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