(From page 30)
sive. Unfortunately, Cheung's detective partner had retired promptly after passage of the Prevention of Bribery Or- inance, so Cheung could not openly interfere with the police. However, his solicitor's clerk had heard rumours about the Government's capacity to tolerate the bungling of preparation of prosecutions, its refusal to prosecute even when the police offered evidence of attempts to bribe mem- bers of the bench, and its lack of drive in pursuing enquiries into building-industry scandals that had involved loss of, or danger to, lives. Efficient establishment of links with law officers and the right sort of inducements guaranteed that evidence allowing a successful prosecution would not be forthcoming against Cheung's partners in the Civil Service.
At about the same time, Cheung found he had doubled his personal fortune. Through his solicitor's clerk, his bank directorship and his access to an important firm of auditors, he was able to obtain a supply of "pink forms" when companies went public, as though he were an employee of the firm in question. He was also able to obtain valuable inside information on inter-company transactions designed to manipulate share prices. Thus property revaluations, takeover bids and distribution of bonus share issucs constituted in- formation passed to Cheung in time for him to buy the appro- priate stock. Not being greedy, he got out before the crash.
WE can only speculate on Cheung Sam's fortunes in the years ahead, but, given his accomplishments, the following scenario would seem to do justice to his modesi aspirations:
In 1974, Cheung is invited to take a temporary position on the Legislative Council, since one of its members is on leave. He accepts. This service to the community soon proves useful: One of his building developments had been delayed by bad weather in 1972 and 1973 and, to save time and money, Cheung's company gambled against disaster by cut- ting into an unstable earth face on the building site. The resulting series of landslides leaves the Public Works Depart- ment somewhat concerned, but the architects employed by Cheung help to confuse the PWD by writing optimistic re- ports on the situation. Cheung knows this is but a temporary expedient, and he resolves, upon taking up his temporary position on the Legislative Council, to discuss the matter with a European officer of his acquaintance.
This gentleman is under consideration for an important promotion, one in which certain members of the Legislative Council can influence the choice and, indeed, decide whether the post should be regraded at the right sort of salary and with the right sort of authority. Cheung Sam speaks to the European and Cheung's company agrees to surrender the earth face behind the building site for the construction of some public utility facilities in return for an equivalent site elsewhere. Cheung creates no opposition to this request from the Public Works Department and its rele- vant division, as befits a public-spirited man. As soon as the surrender is completed, Cheung's architects ask the PWD to agree to render the unstable earth face safe; this work is undertaken at the Government's expense.
By 1975 Cheung is a full member of the Legislative Council; he also sits on the Banking Advisory Committee, a position that provides useful inside information on official policy, especially as world exchange rates are in a new crisis and the Hongkong dollar's parity is under discussion. As a member of the Trade Development Council, he has been able to find a partner willing to direct all the Council's significant commercial information and trade enquiries to his enter- prises. His seat on the Trade and Industry Advisory Board is
FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW
helpful in fulfilling overseas market research projects of inter- est to Cheung.
Cheung is asked by his ex-police partner to find a job for his son, who has studied at a British university. The son has no clear idea of his father's past, although Cheung assumes the young man is privy to his father's background and is acquainted with useful contacts in the police force. Cheung therefore inakes no effort to conceal his penchant for making money work for him in both the private and public sectors. At first, the young man is disgusted: he consults his father, who advises him to go along for the ride. As the son of a policeman, the young man possesses a certain interest in detective work. He finds that large companies in Hongkong will pay handsomely for access to bank accounts as well as for tips when a bank's customer is running into trouble. They will also pay for advance warning of movements in world money markets. The young man is now in business.
He realises that Cheung eventually will find him out, and so decides that Cheung has been defrauding the Inland Re- venue Department by not disclosing the full extent of the insurance company's profits. The lad puts his detective in-
ACRSAR
The son of his old police partner is disgusted when he discovers Cheung's attitude to money-making, but his father advises him to go along for the ride.
stincts to work, but finds that Cheung has deposits of consider- able substance in another local bank with which he has no con- nection except as an account holder. Cheung's financial re- cords can be traced only with this bank's cooperation: he tries to trade information with this other bank, to no avail. Surprisingly, the bank's management reports the matter to the police, who take a dim view of the matter and seek the bank's cooperation should the son try to buy access to Cheung's accounts. The bank agrees and the young man is arrested.
In the investigation, the police discover a prima facie case of tax evasion against Cheung and pass the file to the Com- missioner of Inland Revenue, who has refused to accept legal advice from within the Government that a prosecution in- volving a Legislative Councillor would be against the public interest. By the end of 1975 Cheung is developing an ulcer as he awaits news on whether a warrant will be issued against him. The police realise that Cheung must have been paying money out to civil servants from his various companies: they suspect that these payments have been entered as "gifts" and "entertainment" in the audited accounts filed with the In- land Revenue Department. The Commissioner of Inland Re-
NOVEMBER 12, 1973
31
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.