By Nick McCarthy Blues owner Carson Yeung was Jackie Chan's hairdresser, court told

Blues owner Carson Yeung used to cut Jackie Chan’s hair in the 1980s and donated millions of pounds to charities in mainland China, a court has heard.

Details of Yeung’s past and his links to movie stars have emerged at his £60 million money laundering trial in Hong Kong.

Joseph Ng Loi-ping, one of the soccer tycoon’s close friends, gave evidence for his defence.

He said Yeung had donated tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to good causes in China, including more than £1 million to Tibet for the region’s development in 2009.

He also said the businessman had met with a high-ranking Communist Party official before the official retired last year.

He told the court that the 52-year-old had a passion for football and had planned to open up soccer training schools in mainland China after buying up Blues.

Loi-ping said he was a client at Yeung’s salon Vole at Hong Kong’s plush Peninsula Hotel, along with Hollywood movie legend Jackie Chan and Taiwanese star Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia.

He said that in 1989, he was paying Yeung HK$500 for a haircut, plus a HK$220 tip, around £60 in total.

Yeung is accused of laundering HK$721 million through the five accounts with Wing Lung Bank and HSBC.

He denies the charges. The alleged offences took place from January 2001 to December 2007.

Earlier in the trial, police financial investigator Johnny Kwan Sui-lun detailed the money flow of five of Yeung’s bank accounts under scrutiny.

He highlighted a period between 2004 and 2005 when a Macau casino operation SJM Holdings deposited 14 cheques into the accounts, amounting to around £5 million.

“When we saw a large amount of cash going in and out of the five accounts, with no accumulated deposits, we (at the time) had reasonable grounds to suspect,” Kwan said.

The case continues.