XN000022-1995-01-11 — Page 56

45 -

Forgery of banknotes

Following is a question by the Hon Henry Tang Ying-yen and a written reply by the Secretary for Security. Mr Alistair Asprey, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

It is reported that the forgery of banknotes by criminal elements using advanced technology has become a serious problem in recent years, particularly in the case of forged US banknotes which constitute 80 per cent of the total number of forged banknotes seized by the Interpol. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Reply

(a)

(b)

(c)

Mr President,

(a)

whether triad syndicates in the territory are involved in the forgery of banknotes activity; if so, whether the Government has taken measures to tackle the problem, and how many forged banknotes have been seized in the past three years;

of the number of forged banknotes in circulation in the territory found by the police within the past three years, and whether the users of such banknotes have been charged by the police; if not, why not; and

what methods the police are adopting to differentiate between forged and genuine banknotes, and whether such methods can identify banknotes forged by crime syndicates using advanced technology?

The Police assess that counterfeit currency syndicates may include triad society members, but counterfeiting is not necessarily, or primarily, a triad crime.

The Police maintain close liaison with banks and financial institutions to help discover forged banknotes, and conduct regular operations to seize such banknotes and arrest the counterfeiters.