From a one-man, top secret assignment to the open trial; from the covert investigation to the worldwide press coverage; four years had come and gone. Gregory and Tsun gather their thoughts and memories on the case by revisiting the old files.
There were more than 30,000 exhibits in this case, mainly documents seized from the SEHK— listing applications, vetting procedures, minutes of meetings, recorded conversations, enough to fill 20 metal trunks. Proper custody of these exhibits was no easy task, requiring an officer with special skills. The meticulous, well-organized and now highly experienced Tsun was just the man for the job. “I had never come across such a huge amount of exhibits,” Tsun recalls. “Another officer and I were assigned to look after them. We got permission from the court to use one of the lawyers’ changing rooms as an exhibit storage room close at hand. Whenever the Trial Judge or the prosecution needed a particular exhibit, we could quickly retrieve it by referring to our own index system. We could also return them immediately to the proper place after use. There must not be any misplacements in anyway.”
Tsun designed the index system from scratch. “It is not uncommon for commercial corruption cases to involve complicated but fragmentary information buried among a huge amount of documents,” he says. “This case was no exception. In the 80s, PCs were not commonplace. All the information had to be filed in hard copies. To facilitate checking and cross-referencing, I developed our own special filing system by creating indexes, somewhat like a library classification system. The same method was later applied to classify the exhibits.”
ICAC investigators are not only meticulous but also extremely creative. As it was necessary to keep all information absolutely confidential before the case became public, Gregory felt it too risky to write the suspects’ names in his investigation notes. He devised a set of ‘codes’ that only he could understand. “I used the brand names of watches to refer to the senior executives of the SEHK, and birds’ names to refer to other staff members,” Gregory explains. “Every time Rolex and Omega attended meetings, the Swallow had prepared for ……”
At the start of the SEHK investigation, Gregory and Tsun were involved in the Overseas Trust Bank (OTB) case. The two worked from the OTB Building in Wan Chai until the conclusion of the OTB case. After that, the Task Force did not move back to the Operations Department. “This was a highly sensitive and confidential case,” Gregory says. “All documents and case information were classified and had to be kept secure. The Task Force rented premises away from the Operations Department and introduced 24-hour security measures. During the four years of the investigation, the Task Force office moved several times. Apart from attending important meetings and presenting reports to the directorates, we seldom set foot in the Operations Department in the Headquarters premises.”
After the former Chairman was sentenced, Gregory finally returned to the ICAC Staff Canteen after a prolonged absence - just for a drink. As soon as he stepped into the Canteen, an awkward silence suddenly loomed. “I remember that there was some form of staff leisure activities going on because I could actually hear the noise and laughter through the door before I went in,” he says. “It was as if everyone was expecting something from me. So I said ‘It’s over’, and the room erupted in cheers and applause. I then realised that everyone was very much concerned about the case. At that moment, I could feel their concern and quiet support over the years. It was a great demonstration of team spirit.”