Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung has failed in a bid to have the evidence of an expert witness dismissed at his £60 million money laundering trial.

The Chinese businessman is facing trial in Hong Kong on five counts of money laundering. He has denied the offences.

The charges involve money deposited into bank accounts from January 2001 to December 2007 - years before he won a takeover battle for Birmingham City in October 2009 for £81.5 million.

Yesterday, his lawyer Graham Harris said a prosecution report prepared by forensic accountant Roderick Sutton was ‘‘irrelevant and unnecessary’’ and should not be admitted as evidence.

He said the offence required evidence that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” money laundering did occur, but Sutton was an expert and not a member of the common-sense, rational community.

Mr Harris said: “Notwithstanding the deficiency in information, Sutton nonetheless makes serious prejudicial allegations of so-called ‘hallmarks’ of money laundering against the defendant.”

But prosecutor John Reading said the expert report was meant to only assist the judge by arranging alleged transactions in a presentable format. He said it was up to the judge to make his final judgment if Yeung was guilty or not.

District Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong rejected Yeung’s application, and the case was adjourned until Thursday.