ICAC Landmark Cases - The Unmaking of a Legend (Carrian Fraud Case)

The Carrian Task Force comprised a team of some 40 members. Some of them stayed for a short time and were transferred, but some carried through to the end. It is hard to imagine the bitterness and weariness as well as the satisfaction experienced by the investigators at the achievements generated by this complicated case which lasted well over a decade.

Bitter-Sweet Conclusion

In 1985, when Chu was appointed a member of the Task Force, he thought the task would only last for about a year. In the twinkling of an eye, the year was 1988 and he got a chance to get promoted. However, since the promotion board considered him less exposed than the other candidates, having been engaged in only one case in all those years, he was out in the race. At the time Chu felt rather bitter about it. He recalled, “All along, I had felt honoured to have been involved in an investigation of such a major case. But in the end it was also because of this case I missed a promotion.” Chu staged a comeback in the promotion exercise held the following year and his candid reply to an examiner’s tricky question led to an unexpected result……

Do you want to know whether Chu was promoted finally?
(in Cantonese only)

The examiner asked, “Which would you choose? To get promoted but have to leave the investigation you are working on, or to continue with the investigation but get no promotion?” I said, “In that case, I prefer finishing the investigation to getting a promotion. I have become more and more interested in this case, so I don’t mind finishing the case first before getting a promotion.” Who would have thought that finally I got both a promotion and a transfer.

Regret or Honour?

Chu’s promotion and subsequent transfer created more than double the workload for Chui. He subsequently had to travel to Malaysia on over 10 occasions, with the longest stay lasting for 32 days.

“My younger son was just born when I was assigned to interview witnesses in Malaysia for two weeks. I was worried but, after all, the most important thing was to get the work done.” The two weeks passed quickly but the work was still unfinished. The Crown Counsel who worked together with Chui was reluctant to release him. “My boss was considerate and agreed to send a replacement. But I finally chose to stay to finish the work.”

As Chui had to travel extensively, Mrs Chui was compelled to resign from her job so she could take care of the family and the two sons. As with Chui, Chu said, “I’ve missed some very precious moments in life. I was not around with my two sons during the important years of their childhood. I was out of town for about half of the time from 1985 to 1988. So when they were about to go to primary schools, my wife had to handle all things, big and small like queuing up for enrolment and taking them to written tests and interviews and so on all by herself.”

Despite all these, they had had their share of satisfaction. Chui proudly said, “I am honoured to have taken part in this case. Besides Deputy Head Mr Brian Carroll, I was the only one in the Task Force who saw the case through to the end. Even the final document in the case, the expenditure statement, was prepared by me.” Adding that he had learnt much from the case, he continued, “In the early stages we did encounter many problems in relation to the finance and business areas. But after working with the professionals for some time, my knowledge of financial matters and, gradually, accounting procedures and stock market operational procedures improved and they no longer posed any difficulties. This is a great help to me in similar investigations in future.” The Carrian case formed a major part of Chui’s investigator life and also propelled him up the career ladder. He joined the team as an Assistant Investigator but, shortly afterwards, he was promoted to Investigator, and long before he left the team he became Senior Investigator. As for Chu, the case stimulated his interest in law and he later studied for a law degree.

The Walking Library

Chui found handling the voluminous exhibits most challenging. The exhibit officer had been changed three times, so none of them had such a thorough knowledge of the documents as Chui. He would take the initiative to help the exhibit officer-in-charge during the defence counsel’s frequent visits to the exhibit room to read or make photocopies of the documents. This was a tedious job. “We are obliged to provide this service because by law they are entitled to make such requests. There were over 4 million pages of exhibit documents and the index alone was three inches thick. I had to rely on my memory heavily in retrieving the documents.” He described himself as ‘a shopkeeper in a Chinese herb shop’.

Chui shared his experience in ‘locating the herbs’
(in Cantonese only)

Taking care of the case exhibits is a tedious job, particularly so in a big case like this. It’s difficult because of the large quantity of exhibits involved! Just imagine what it’s like in a Chinese herb shop. The shopkeeper has to locate the herbs stored in the vast array of drawers immediately. Same with us, we had to have a very good memory. We had to remember where we’d put the file so that, when someone called for it, I could quickly retrieve that particular file.

Ricky Chu (R) and Danny Lo (L) preparing the extradition documents

First Class Treatment

In extraditing a fugitive, the most important part of the ICAC’s work is to prepare the extradition documents. Investigators must prepare the charges, exhibits and evidence ready for submission to the local judiciary. Subject to the admission of the documents by the court, the ICAC may then request a formal surrender of the fugitive offender.

When taking up the case, the Task Force was aware that a number of suspects had already left Malaysia, so they made an early start in preparing the relevant documents. According to Chu, “Overseas witnesses might not be able to attend the trial in Hong Kong, so statements which we took from them could be vital testimony against the suspects. We therefore got them to swear on oath before a notary in their country that the documents were authentic. If they refused, we would have them summonsed in their country where they had to answer the questions before a judge so that the judge could then verify the authenticity of the documents. We would bind the extradition documents, usually in huge quantities, into bundles and have them sealed to prevent tampering.” Chui added: “Before binding them into bundles, we had to make photocopies of the documents for the use of both the prosecution and defence counsels and by our colleagues in the Task Force. On one particular occasion, we spent a night making photocopies and the copier broke down because of overloading. We had to get another copier instead, and the waste paper coming from punching the documents turned into a thick layer of ‘snow’ in the office.” (Video clip from the ICAC Drama “The Extradition”)

The delivery of the extradition documents posed another problem. More than 40 volumes of extradition documents were prepared in Malaysia and each of them was about five inches high. To ensure safe transportation of the documents, investigators had to hand-carry them to Hong Kong. However, since the weight of the documents far exceeded that allowed for hand baggage, the investigators had to fly first-class instead. Chu and Lo carried 10 bundles each and put the rest into a locked metal trunk which they moved to the flight cabin themselves. Throughout the journey, Chu and Lo did not leave their seats except going to the washroom in turns, keeping a close watch of the metal trunk. Chu did not fail to see the joke: “Thanks to the extradition documents, we were forced to travel first-class on public fund.”

A different method had been used for handling the extradition documents prepared in England. “It was impossible to hand-carry the 60 to 70 bundles of bulky documents by ourselves. We therefore made special arrangements to rent a container from the airline to store the sealed documents. We also put seals on the container to ensure that nobody could gain access to the documents during the journey. Colleagues responsible for the transportation had to monitor the movement of the container on the airport apron before they boarded the plane. On arrival in Hong Kong, they had to collect the documents directly from the plane’s cargo compartment,” Chui said.

Rewards for an Onerous Task

After imposing the sentences at the conclusion of the trial, the High Court Judge specially commended the investigators.”…… would particularly like to commend the investigating officers of the ICAC for all their hard work and the meticulous care with which they have tackled their mammoth task. This has been an enquiry the complexity of which is probably without parallel in this jurisdiction…… I would like to commend in the highest possible terms for their skill and professionalism…… The community owes them a debt of gratitude, and not least for the patience and their determined perseverance in the face of so many hindrances all these years, that have been put in their path……” He particularly named Brian Carroll and Danny Lo in the commendation for displaying the highest order of dedication and professionalism in the course of the investigation.

Ten long-serving members of the Task Force were awarded ICAC Commendations for displaying perseverance and excellent investigative skills in the investigation of this case. Carroll and Lo were also awarded the Medal for Meritorious Service by the then Governor in 1994 for their persistence and professionalism.