Carson Yeung guilty: Birmingham will feel 'no impact' from conviction of club's majority shareholder
Yeung could face a lengthy prison term after being found guilty of money laundering
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Your support makes all the difference.Carson Yeung's conviction on money-laundering charges will have “no impact on the day-to-day operations” at Birmingham, according to acting chairman Peter Pannu.
Yeung, the club's majority shareholder, was found guilty on five counts of money laundering by a court in Hong Kong on Monday.
He was arrested and charged in 2011 having bought Blues two years earlier, and had denied laundering 720million Hong Kong dollars (£55.4million) through his accounts between 2001 and 2007.
He will now be sentenced on Friday and could face a lengthy prison term.
Yeung last month resigned from his position on the boards of the football club, Birmingham City plc and Birmingham International Holdings Limited (BIHL), the club's parent company.
In an official statement on the club's website, Pannu said: "I regret to inform all supporters and staff of our beloved club that Birmingham City FC's former president and benefactor, Carson Yeung, was today convicted of all charges he faced following a protracted period of legal proceedings.
"I'd like to reassure all supporters and staff that today's verdict will have no impact on the day-to-day operations at the football club.
"Birmingham International Holdings Limited, the holding company, shall continue to support the football club under the leadership of the group's new chairman, Mr Cheung Shing, and will work to raise further investment to support Birmingham City FC going forward."
The Football League said it was aware of Monday's developments and plans to release a statement in due course.
Yeung, 54, completed a takeover of Birmingham in October 2009.
Since he took charge, Birmingham have won the League Cup but have been relegated from the Barclays Premier League and are currently 17th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Yeung, who had his assets frozen, cut ties with the midlands club at the start of February to focus more time on his ongoing court case and to crucially satisfy one of the requirements for the resumption of trading of BIHL's suspended shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
City's parent company subsequently agreed to sell 12 per cent of its stake in the club to a Beijing-based advertising business operating in China, a deal which has since been delayed.
PA
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