BEIJING, January 24 - RAPSI. The Supreme Court of Hong Kong has sentenced a Chinese man to 10.5 years in prison for laundering HK13.1 billion ($1.7 billion), the local press reports, citing the court's statement.

According to the court, the case of Luo Juncheng, a 22-year-old man from the neighboring Guangdong province, was one of Hong Kong's biggest ever money laundering scams.

Luo established a development firm in Hong Kong and later opened accounts with Chiyu bank in his name and in the name of his firm, through which he laundered large amounts of money every day from August 2009 to April 2010.

He used the money to buy and sell shares.

Presiding judge Du Libing pointed to a growing number of these types of cases in Hong Kong and the increasingly larger amounts of money involved. The judge called for harsher punishment for these crimes.

Under current Hong Kong laws, anyone found guilty of money laundering faces up to 14 years in jail.