Senior Superintendent (Crime Kowloon East) Peter Barnes presented letters of appreciation to the security staff of the Hong Kong Jockey Club at a ceremony held at the Kai Tak Operations Base on November 5 for providing valuable assistance to the police in smashing a major loan-shark syndicate.

The case dated back to 2006 when a businessman borrowed $1.17 million from a triad related loan-shark syndicate. He repaid some $2.7 million before being unable to afford any more payment. Subsequently he made a report to the police in July 2006.

Officers of the Regional Crime Unit 1 of Kowloon East (RCU 1 KE) then began investigation into the case, led by Chief Inspector Andrew Boulton and Senior Inspector Fan Wing-hong. During the initial investigation, the officers arrested two persons. This was followed by an intensive analysis of bank and other financial accounts. The mastermind of the syndicate was subsequently arrested as he attempted to make a money transfer.

Later in 2006, RCU 1 officers obtained the only Restraint Order under the Organised and Serious Crime Ordinance (OSCO). This year, they also obtained under the OSCO the biggest Confiscation Order in terms of monetary value, resulting in a loan-shark being required to pay the Government $8.29 million after his conviction in the District Court.

This is the first time a Confiscation Order and a Restraint Order have been obtained by a unit outside Police Headquarters. This marks a good beginning because the experience gained will facilitate further applications for these orders in the future.

The RCU 1 KE obtained the two orders as a result of the experience Detective Chief Inspector David Williams from RCU 3 KE had gained from his previous posting to the former Financial Investigation (FI) Unit of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, as well as the assistance rendered by the FI Unit.

The mastermind was subsequently brought to court. During the course of the whole investigation, more than 40 bank accounts were looked into and numerous debtors were identified.

Investigating officer, Police Constable Lee Wing-yin, assisted by Senior Police Constable Fung Tat-chuen, had come across a tremendous amount of difficulties: obtaining and analysing thousands of copies of documents, obtaining numerous banker's affidavits and complicated legal proceedings in obtaining, first, a Production Order, then a Restraint Order, and finally the Confiscation Order.

In addition, numerous meetings were held with officials from the Department of Justice, Treasury Accountants and Forensics Accountants, as well as the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The mastermind was sentenced to four years' imprisonment after pleading guilty, and was ordered by court to pay $8.29 million. Three other members of the syndicate were tried separately in the Magistracy, and two of them were jailed for eight and five months, while the third was ordered to perform community service for 120 hours.

CIP Boulton attributed the successful investigation and prosecution to the professionalism of SIP Fan and his team. The successful application for the orders under the OSCO was due to CIP Williams' hard work and experience in financial investigation.

"Without CIP Williams' experience, this case could not have been dealt with solely at a regional level. We all learnt a lot during the judicial process," CIP Boulton noted.

"Cases like the one in question cannot be rushed. Investigation needs to be methodical and, if at all possible, advice and assistance should be sought from the Department of Justice and FI Narcotics Bureau before any overt action is taken," CIP Williams observed.

Good example of the close co-operation between the Jockey Club and the Force