Seventy-eight convictions were recorded in April 2025 for breaches of legislation enforced by the Environmental Protection Department.
 
     Thirty-one of the convictions were under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, three were under the Noise Control Ordinance, 13 were under the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances Regulation, 28 were under the Waste Disposal Ordinance and three were under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance.
 
     An owners' corporation was fined $40,000, which was the heaviest fine in April, for discharged waste/polluting matter into the water control zone.

The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:
 
     Chief Justice Andrew Cheung, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, will lead a Judiciary delegation to visit Xi'an in Shaanxi Province and Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region tomorrow (May 24). The delegation will meet with the Executive Vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, Mr Deng Xiuming, and Vice-president of the Supreme People's Court Mr Mao Zhonghua. They will also engage in professional exchanges with other Mainland judges, and visit local courts at various levels. This visit is part of the ongoing exchanges between the Judiciary and the Mainland courts.
 
     Other members of the delegation include Mr Justice Jeremy Poon, Chief Judge of the High Court; Madam Justice Carlye Chu, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court; Mr Justice Godfrey Lam, Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court; Mr Justice Leung Chun-man, Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court; and the Judiciary Administrator, Ms Esther Leung.
 
     The delegation will return to Hong Kong on May 31. During Chief Justice Cheung's absence from Hong Kong, Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, will be the Acting Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal.

     The Music Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, in association with the Education University of Hong Kong, will rerun the music training programme Innovative Music Making: MO x e-Orch from October to July next year. The training programme aims to promote the integration of music and technology on school campuses and targets Primary Four to Primary Six students and Secondary One to Secondary Three students. Interested primary and secondary schools are invited to join the programme.

     Two courses are available in this year's music training programme, namely the "e-Orch Music Making" and "e-Orch Training and Co-creative". The "e-Orch Music Making" course welcomes students without any musical background, while the "e-Orch Training and Co-creative" course is targeted at students with required musical qualifications or experience.

     Participants from each school will form a digital music orchestra, learn musical knowledge, and collaborate in music creation with the use of tablets. Upon completion of the training, each e-Orch will perform its original work on stage at a public concert to showcase their achievements. In addition, participants of the "e-Orch Training and Co-creative" course will also perform with instrumental ensembles from the Music Office or their own schools in the concert. Various awards and certificates of attendance will be presented to participating students in the concert as encouragement.

     Interested schools can download application forms from the Music Office's website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/mo/activities/schoolprogrammes/arttech/art/25programme.html). Completed forms must be returned to the Music Office on or before June 13 by e-mail (moarttech@lcsd.gov.hk) or by fax (3104 1352). The Music Office will acknowledge schools' applications by e-mail. For enquiries, please call 2158 6467 or 3842 7776.

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (May 22) detected a suspected money laundering case involving about $61 million in crime proceeds subsequent to a follow-up investigation of a dangerous drug case identified last year. Two local women and one local man suspected to be connected with the case were arrested.
      
     In October last year, Customs detected a dangerous drug case involving about $1.9 million worth of drugs and arrested two local persons suspected to be connected with the case. A subsequent financial investigation and fund-flow analysis revealed that there were numerous suspicious transactions, which were suspected to be crime proceeds, in the personal bank accounts of one of the arrestees. Meanwhile, the investigation also revealed that a 55-year-old local woman and a 30-year-old local man transferred or received the suspected crime proceeds. During the period between January and December 2024, the total amount of the suspicious transactions handled by the three arrestees reached about $61 million.
      
     Upon further investigation, Customs arrested the 55-year-old local woman and 30-year-old local man yesterday for "dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offenses" (commonly known as money laundering) under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO) and searched their residential premises in Ho Man Tin and Tung Chung. Three mobile phones were seized in the operation. On the same day, Customs officers also further arrested a 63-year-old local woman who has been remanded due to the related drug trafficking case, for money laundering.
      
     Two of the arrested persons have been released on bail pending investigation, while one arrested person continues to be remanded in custody. The investigation of the case is still ongoing, and the likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.
      
     Under the OSCO, a person commits an offence if he or she deals with any property knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that such property, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly represents any person's proceeds of an indictable offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and imprisonment for 14 years while the crime proceeds are also subject to confiscation.
          
     Members of the public may report any suspected money laundering activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

     â€‹The Transport Department (TD) today (May 23) alerted members of the public to fraudulent website addresses that pretend to be the HKeToll (see the HKeToll website for details) and seek to deceive users into making payments and obtaining their credit card information.

     The TD clarifies that the fraudulent websites have no connection with the HKeToll and has referred the case to the Police for follow-up. The TD reiterates that users or vehicle owners must log in to the HKeToll website or mobile app to pay outstanding tolls online.

     Members of the public should stay alert when receiving any unidentified messages, and should not visit suspicious websites or disclose any personal information. Anyone who has provided his or her personal information to the websites concerned should contact the Police. For enquiries about the HKeToll, please call 3853 7333.