After the severe short piling of these two buildings was discovered, HD reported to the ICAC on 23 December 1999 on suspicion of corruption. Two weeks later, on 6 January 2000, Zen Pacific also reported to the ICAC, alleging that the works involved corruption.
HA told the ICAC that they would be holding a press conference on 9 January 2000 in order to calm public concern as quickly as possible. They said that they would use this conference to announce that they would be stopping the construction of the superstructure for the two buildings.
The ICAC realized that once this news broke, their investigations would be compromised to a considerable extent. They now had only ten odd days to master all the intricate details of the case if they were to catch all the suspects in one dragnet.
Mr Leung Kai-wing, the ICAC Senior Investigator who was responsible for investigating this case, recalls: “All this happened over the long Christmas and New Year holidays. But none of us were in holiday mood. Our only goal was to go through the stacks of documents and files as promptly and speedily as possible in order to discover the ins and outs of the crime. It was very difficult to gather evidence for cases involving short piling because the major material evidence now lay deep underground.”
Another hurdle which the investigators had to overcome was the intricate technical knowledge involved in construction works. They had to learn about pile construction procedures in particular and the essentials of the various processes, including checking methods. If the investigators could not learn the ropes in time, how could they ever hope to uncover all the fraudulent tricks?
To speed up the investigation, the ICAC temporarily attached a professional construction engineer working in the Corruption Prevention Department to the Operations Department. He proved a veritable walking encyclopaedia, providing prompt professional advice on a number of highly technical piling construction issues. Within days, the investigators were absorbing new knowledge like sponges, grasping such procedures and techniques as pre-drilling, excavating pile shafts, and creating bell-outs, as well as the correct steps involved in casting concrete in place. As the press conference loomed ever nearer, it was a real race against time.
On 8 January 2000, just one day before the press conference, the ICAC commenced arrest operations and searched a number of places in the territory for two consecutive days. Eighty investigators were deployed in the action, 21 search warrants were executed and eight persons (including three HD officers) were arrested. (They were the project clerk of works, an assistant clerk of works, a works supervisor, two ex-directors of Hui Hon and three Hui Hon staff members including the site agent, the site foreman and the assistant engineer.) They were alleged to have committed corruption and conspiracy to defraud by using short piles to save construction costs in relation to the foundation works at the Yuen Chau Kok site.
During the operations, the ICAC seized a large amount of documents and exhibits. Four shipping containers were needed to hold the substandard concrete cores alone.
The investigators had to interview all the suspects and witnesses and examine the seized documents, progress records, and test records all within a very short space of time. The records seemed flawless, however, and the investigators realized that they would now have to search for clues between the lines.