COUPLE DENIED ACCESS TO $280,000 SEIZED BY POLICE

A Vancouver couple accused in an $8.7-million money-laundering scheme has
been denied access to $280,000 seized by police from their home.

In March last year, Thien Vu Huynh and wife, Thi Ngoc Suong Huynh, along
with two others, were charged with 31 counts relating to 14 transfers of
currency from U.S. to Canadian dollars.

The Crown alleges the money was the proceeds of the sale of B.C. marijuana
and that the exchanges took place over a seven-month period from Oct. 16,
2003, to March 29, 2004.

At the time of their arrest, police seized $280,000 -- $210,000 US and
$35,000 Cdn -- in cash from the Huynhs' Vancouver home.

Pleading poverty, they applied in B.C. Supreme Court to have the money
returned so they could afford to pay their lawyers' fees for the pending
criminal trial.

Federal prosecutor Peter Eccles, however, objected to the move, raising
questions about the sale of the $511,000 home in June, just three weeks
before the application was filed. Eccles wondered whether the proceeds of
the sale truly went in part to pay off a debt in Vietnam.

The seized money appeared to be proceeds of crime, he argued, but his claim
was vehemently denied by Doug Jevning, a lawyer for the husband.

Jevning and Brian Jackson, a lawyer for the wife, said the debt was
legitimate and their clients were unable to apply for legal aid due to the
application.

But they were unable to persuade Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm.

"The application is dismissed," the judge said after an hour-long hearing.

"I have a very uneasy feeling that we are not receiving the facts . . . I'm
not suggesting counsel in any way are not doing their jobs. I'm sure they
are. But when I have that uneasy feeling, that's the end of it."