HK judge bars Birmingham owner from travel to UK

Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung has been barred at the last moment from visiting the English club after a Hong Kong judge overturned a lower court decision to alter his bail terms, his lawyer said Thursday.

Carson Yeung will not be able to fly to Britain on Thursday as planned for a four-day visit, Clive Grossman said.

Yeung was charged in June with five counts of money laundering involving more than 720 million Hong Kong dollars ($92 million). His bail terms require him to remain in the Chinese territory, but a judge in the lower court had in August granted him a one-time exception to travel to Britain.

The secretary of justice asked for a review of the decision and Hong Kong's Court of First Instance decided to overturn it ''on the basis that there was a risk he might not come back,'' said Grossman, who hasn't had a chance to speak Yeung yet.

Yeung had agreed to a doubling of his cash bail to 8 million Hong Kong dollars ($1 million ) until the trip was over. He had earlier posted a $3 million Hong Kong dollar surety for his bail.

The charges against him involve money deposited in bank accounts from January 2001 to December 2007.

Yeung's protracted pursuit of Birmingham ended in October 2009 with an 81.5 million British pound (then $130 million) takeover. His previous experience with professional football consisted of a stint as chairman of Hong Kong Rangers Football Club from 2005-06.

Yeung controls the team through his company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd. Yeung owns 26 percent of the shares, which have been suspended on Hong Kong's stock exchange since he was arrested.