None of these witnesses gave any direct evidence against Cunningham or Thompson, in that they had no personal contact with either of the defendants. However, some of these men gave evidence that from the corrupt receipts of the organisation and at the direction of their Police employers, they purchased sterling drafts and they could identify their signatures on the applications
for these drafts.
Their evidence related mainly to the period during which Cunningham and Thompson were in the Division showing that the organisation
and the vice-establishments it protected continued to operate as it did
before Cunningham & Thompson's arrival and indeed after they had left. It
was also in evidence that the responsibility for major vice-raids was that
of the Superintendent of the Division and to a lesser extent: his Assistant.
There were a number of "collectors" who gave evidence that they
collected monies from various stalls within the Police Division of Shaukiwan
and North Point. These stalls were the gambling stalls or divans. They
also gave evidence that they were collecting on behalf of various police
officers and passed the monies on to either people at a sort of headquarters for the group or paid the monies directly into bank accounts opened at the
direction of some Police Officers.
Amongst these people were the following:-
CHAN Cheong-wing who said that he had been unemployed and so was
asked to, and did, collect "squeeze money" from both gambling stalls and
opium divans within the Division. He, having collected the money, would take
it to a flat in the Hung Fook Building, the headquarter of the group, and,
on occasions, he was present when the money was taken from there to the
Hang Seng Bank. He gave evidence that he usually gave money to either Yin Chai or Kong Chi, and Lam Yue Fan. His evidence was that occasionally he
would bank the money himself or go with Yin Chai to the bank when the money
was banked and he estimated the money collected as between $340,000 and $350,000
a month. He did not withdraw money from the bank, but was present when money
was withdrawn. He resided at the flat in the Hung Fook Building as did some
of the others, and from time to time received telephone calls and would then
ring the various gambling stalls and warn them that the Superintendent of
Division was going to inspect the area and that they were to take evasive
action. He would also warn illegal off-course betting stalls operating in
the Division.