The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should table the Sunday Star article of the country’s most famous Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, “The Fence that Eats the Rice” excoriating the underperformance and failures of the three “vital institutions” of the state, the police, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
In his column, Hanif said he had briefed the Police Royal Commission, of which he was Deputy Chairman, “that police corruption was so extensive that a very senior ACA officer had confided in me and another top retired police officer that 40% of the senior officers could be arrested without further investigations — strictly on the basis of their lifestyles”.
He wrote:
One state police chief had a net worth of RM18mil. My friend and I had watched the force getting deeper and deeper into the morass of corruption.
It was the daily talk and the butt of gibes on the golf courses that embarrassed retired police officers no end; yet even we were stunned by this revelation and its implication. Would the force we had served for so long and which had given us so much experience and such great pride for what we had built it into, be destroyed in the expected ACA action?
I could not help telling the ACA officer that he really had his work cut out for him and that his fight against corruption was the most important fight facing the country but I hoped that he could effectively stamp out this corruption without destroying our PDRM which had done such yeomen service to the nation.
Hanif’s fear that the PDRM would suffer great damage in a campaign to “effectively stamp out corruption” has proved to be completely misplaced, as the culture of impunity for the corrupt among the high and mighty continued to reign supreme and there was not a single one of the 1,400 senior police officers “who could be arrested without further investigation strictly based on the basis of their lifestyles” who had been arrested and prosecuted since the publication of the Royal Police Commission Report in May 2005.
The Royal Police Commission reported that the PDRM had an establishment of 90,256 police personnel in 2004, and there would be a total of 3,502 senior police officers for all ranks above the inspector, viz:
IGP 1
DIG 1
CP 6
DCP 18
SAC I 27
SAC II 56
ACP 148
SUPT 376
DSP 792
ASP 2,077
Total 3,502
If “40% of the senior officers could be arrested without further investigations — strictly on the basis of their lifestyles”, we are talking about a staggering figure of 1,400 out of the 3,502 senior police officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent to Inspector-General of Police.
Is the Cabinet tomorrow prepared to demand explanation from the ACA why it had failed to nab for corruption a single one of the 1,400 senior police officers “who could be arrested without further investigation strictly based on the basis of their lifestyles” despite the Prime Minister’s top priority to eradicate corruption in the past 45 months?
Or will Cabinet Ministers be mortally frightened to ask the ACA such a question, for fear that the same indictment could be applied to the Cabinet – that many of them could be arrested without further investigations, strictly on the basis of their lifestyles?
The Cabinet would have failed in its duties if it shied away completely from Hanif’s indictment of the three “vital institutions” in his Sunday Star column, for the final responsibility for the unchecked rot in the police, the ACA and the AG’s Chambers must finally be borne by the Cabinet under our system of Cabinet government.
If the Cabinet is patriotic, it cannot abdicate from its responsibility tomorrow to do what is right and proper for the country in the midst of celebrating the 50th Merdeka anniversary, and all the Ministers cannot find refuge in the role of the traditional three monkeys of having eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouth the speaks not.
The right, proper and patriotic thing for the Cabinet to do tomorrow is for it to make two policy decisions which will make the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations really historic, meaningful and memorable to all Malaysians — to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as recommended by the Police Royal Commission and to make the ACA fully independent from the Prime Minister’s Department, answerable only to Parliament and not beholden to the political masters of the day.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity will be holding public hearings to get public feedback on their views and concerns about corruption and the National Integrity Plan in Ipoh tomorrow (Perak State Assembly 10 am) and in Alor Star on Thursday (Kedah State Assembly 10 am) — which are opportunities for the Malaysian public to come forward to speak their minds on the problems and challenges of corruption and integrity in Malaysia 50 years after Merdeka.
see what happens when a ship does not have a good captain! Everything goes downhill from there.
The fault lies squarely with the rakyat for allowing it to happen and tolerating this for so long.
But will the rakyat learn? When it comes election time, with the offer of a few goodies, everything is forgotten,and people vote for the same crooks again!
Malaysia! malaysia!
It’s going to be a sad merdaka day for many. Better just stay at home and meditate on the country’s future.
Lets see what we can do to improve things.
THE MINISTER FOR INTERNAL SECURITY IS THE PRIME MINISTER.
HE HAS NOT BEEN BRIEFED. (YET).
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORTS TO THE PM.
THE HEAD OF ACA REPORTS TO THE PM.
THE IGP REPORTS TO THE PM.
THE PM REPORTS TO ……………..i seriously dont know.
Corruption has been in UMNO blood for the past 20 over years and does not happen overnight. It manifest now because there is no more space to contain it. It has already up to the brim and corruption to UMNO is like everyday breakfast and to them it has become routine and normal. It is an evil doing to all honest citizens but to them they see it differently and to some as a birthright.
A song by a patriotic citizen to highlight the maladies of the UMNO government will bring the whole UMNO machinery against this good citizen where else corruption which is flying all over in UMNO’s face, they pretend that nothing has happened.
All the Government has to do is to learn from Hong Kong. Read the following reports. The ICAC of Hong Kong even pursue the cases even when the corrupt cops are dead.
Should a wealthy B.C. family pay for the sins of their father?
Thu, September 04 2003
The Hong Kong government is tracking the assets of a corrupt cop one of the notorious ‘Five Dragons’ who had fled to Vancouver. Almost three decades later, the question now is… Should a wealthy B.C. family pay for the sins of their father
By Asian Pacific News Service
The Hong Kong government, given the green light by its courts to go after the millions taken by a group of corrupt policemen, are tracking the assets of their families in the former British colony, U.S. and Canada.
Dubbed the “millionaire cops,” the ex-Royal Hong Kong police officers, their wives, concubines and children have invested tens of millions of dollars in businesses and real estate in Canada, mostly in B.C. and Ontario, according to secret Canadian police study obtained by The Asian Pacific Post.
They had amassed fortunes in bribes and used a loose Canadian immigration system to set up new homes, businesses and underworld connections in Canada since the seventies.
Among them was ex-police seargent Hon Kwing Shum, known as one of the ‘Five Dragons’.
The five dragons were reputedly the most corrupt and the wealthiest of the fugitive policemen.
They had geographical control of police jurisdictions in Hong Kong and collected graft while allowing the Chinese gangsters to conduct their criminal activities.
Now almost three decades later and after many of the key suspects have died, the Hong Kong government wants to seize the estates of the corrupt policemen.
Recently, the Hong Kong justice secretary was given the go-ahead by a High Court judge to reclaim the multi-million dollar estate of Hon Kwing Shum. Hong Kong’s deputy High Court Judge Aarif Barma dismissed arguments from the man’s family that the government had taken too long to bring the case to court, according to the statute of limitations.
Hon Kwing-shum, alias Hon Shum or Hon Sum, served in the Royal Hong Kong Police from September 1940 until he retired in August 1971.
Upon retirement he and his beneficiaries owned millions of dollars worth of assets. This included over 40 properties, various bank accounts, investments and two Mercedes Benz cars.
Hon, according to court records, accumulated his fortune despite earning a total of just HK$193,852 (C$34,300) during his 31 years with the force.
Anselmo Reyes counsel for the Hong Kong justice secretary, Elsie Leung, said that when Hon accepted the bribes, it was the government that had been defrauded. He said the moment the bribes were handed over, they legally belonged to the justice secretary.
He added that the justice secretary was seeking the assets, not the cash itself, because they were effectively being held in trust by Hon.
In addition to Hon, the assets of another of the five dragons is being sought in California. Police sources in Vancouver told The Asian Pacific Post that their investigations into the flight of the corrupt Hong Kong cops began in the late seventies and has been kept updated.
They believe that up to 44 former Royal Hong Kong cops, followed the lead of the five dragons to escape a corruption crackdown and establish themselves in Canada with their ill-gotten gains.
Covert studies by Asian Organized Crime investigators with the help of Immigration Canada officials found that 30 of the cops had directly invested in at least 13 B.C. companies and purchased about 50 pieces of property in the Vancouver area.
These included large homes in Vancouver, commercial buildings, a shopping mall and vacant acreages. Others invested in restaurants and bought shares in a private hospital.
The study also found that four of them had built a two-tower, 600-room hotel in Toronto valued at more than $20 million.
The richest eleven of the cops were estimated to have a combined asset base both directly and indirectly of some C$80 million.
“It is not exactly understood how much influence or power these former police officials possess regarding Chinese criminal activities in North America but, because of past ties, former influence, possible triad connections and money illegally obtained, they definitely could influence Chinese criminal patterns as we know them today,” the study said.
The exodus of Hong Kong cops to Canada can be tracked back to the mid-’70s when the newly formed Hong Kong agency called Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began enforcing prevention-of-bribery laws.
In the ensuing investigations, ICAC brought 260 police officers to court after finding 18 criminal syndicates operating in the police force.
It was around this time that Hon Kwing Shum, despite his criminal connections, became a landed immigrant in Vancouver.
British Columbia court records show that Hon Kwing Shum was arrested by the RCMP on June 22, 1976 at his house on 515 West 54 Ave in Vancouver on an extradition warrant issued by the Hong Kong ICAC.
At that time he was said to have in his control HK$2,343,624 (C$468,000), a sum disproportionate to his salary as a Detective Staff Seargent of the Royal Hong Kong Police Department.
The next day, Hon appeared in a Vancouver provincial court where Canadian Justice Department lawyer P.W. Halprin said Hon is a landed immigrant who arrived in Vancouver several months ago. He said police seized about C$6,000 from him when he was arrested. After spending five days in jail, Hon was released on bail after four people put up C$250,000 in property for the bail.
The bail was raised by family and friends of Hon and covered the titles of six houses.
The bail was raised by his:
i) Concubine – Kan Suk Ying (515 West 54 Ave Vancouver and later of 2008 West 51st Ave Vancouver). She raised C$120,000.
ii) Son – David Hon Kam Hung (Date of Birth 2 Sept 1950/B.C.Driving Licence 2788025) and his wife Alice Hon Yoke Leng (DOB 14 Aug 1949/BCDL 2116473). They raised C$48,500.
iii) Fei-Fung Lui, a UBC student who listed her address as 4135 Salish Drive, Vancouver. She raised C$81,500.
The judge also ordered Hon’s three passports British, Taiwan and Chinese – to be held. On March 2, 1977, after several legal delays an extradition hearing began.
Hon’s lawyer, H.A.D. Oliver, who later went on to become a judge and a conflict-of-interest commissioner, applied for the case to be thrown out on a technicality involving the law.
Three months later, a Federal Court judge agreed with Hon’s lawyer and ordered the extradition hearing stopped. Hon is released, bail is discontinued and his three passports returned. The government of Canada appealed this ruling to the Federal Court of Appeals Canada.
On January 24, 1978, the Federal Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and ordered Hon’s re-arrest and the resumption of extradition hearings but by that time Hon had left Canada for Taiwan.
Hon died at the age of 76 in August 1999 in Taipei. The following year the Justice Department of Hong Kong began its court challenge to go after Hon’s estate.
In an analytical report done by the RCMP liason office in Hong Kong around the time the corrupt cops were fleeing, it was estimated “that 35 per cent of all Chinese policemen were triad members.”
Police officers and lawyers familiar with proceeds of crime investigations said the money brought in by the corrupt Hong Kong cops is likely to have been legitimized through a variety of means and that there is very little the authorities can do now, unless the same players are actively involved in criminal enterprises.
“If they (Hong Kong) go after the assets in B.C. they will have to show a direct money trail to Hon? that will be an enormous task given the passage of time,” said a police official.
“How are they going to prove what portion of the estate came from criminal enterprise and what is legitimate”
“If this matter extends to a Canadian court, it will be a first and have huge implications,” he said.
Tracking a family fortune in Vancouver
The following properties and companies are listed in a covert Canadian police study on the asset base of the family of corrupt ex-Royal Hong Kong police sergeant Hon Kwing Shum.
1) 3500 block, Hudson St. Vancouver
House assessed value at $1,157,000.
2) 2000 block, West 51 Ave, Vancouver
House assessed value at $433,800.
3) 5600 block, Columbia Street Vancouver
House assessed value at $662,000.
4) Unit block, West 37th Ave Vancouver.
House assessed value at $630,000.
5) 1700 block, East 47th Ave. Vancouver.
House assessed value at $340,000.
6) 500 block, West 54th Ave Vancouver.
House assessed value at $418,300.
7) 1600 block, 63rd Ave Vancouver.
House assessed value at $636,000.
8) 5200 block, Torquoise Drive, Richmond.
House assessed value at $293,000.
9) 1000 block, West 70th Avenue Vancouver.
House assessed value at $228,500.
10) 2000 block, West 41 Ave Vancouver.
Commercial/residential property assessed value at $716,000.
11) 400 block, East 5th Avenue.
Vancouver Apartment assessed value at $74,400.
COMPANIES
1) Hon Investment Inc.
Company records suggest this is the family’s umbrella company. Incorporated in British Columbia on Sept 30, 1983.
2) Yoneda & Associates Consultants Ltd.
Company Incorporated on Sept 5, 1984.
3) KAD Investments Ltd.
Incorporated on May 22, 1981.
4) Esprit Management Inc.
Incorporated on June 16 1983. Last annual report filed on June 16, 2002.
5) Vincent Chan Enterprises Ltd.
Incorporated on Feb 29, 1984. Last annual report filed on Feb 28, 2002.
6) Sunaco Enterprise Ltd.
Company was incorporated on Sept 13, 1983 and dissolved on Feb 10, 1989.
7) SDI Software Design Inc.
Incorporated on Oct 24, 1988. Dissolved on March 30, 2001.
8) CPI Manufacturing and Distribution Inc.
Incorporated on Feb 3, 1988. Dissolved on July 15, 1994.
9) L & H Engineering Consultants
Incorporated on Feb 24, 1977. Dissolved on July 24 1987.
10) MACA Management and Computer Consulting Inc.
Incorporated on Aug 23, 1984. Dissolved on Jan 20 1989.
11) Terran Distribution Ltd.
Incorporated on April 10, 1981. Company dissolved on Sept 25, 1987.
12) Bloomingdale Development Ltd. Incorporated on July 18, 1984 and dissolved on Dec 11, 1987.
Crooked cop’s family returns $20 million
Fri, June 09 2006
By Mata Press Service
The family of a notorious police sergeant who fled to Vancouver with millions of dollars he had accumulated in bribes during a 31-year career has returned part of the ill-gotten fortune to the Hong Kong government.
Hon Kwing-shum, alias Hon Shum or Hon Sum, served in the Royal Hong Kong Police from September 1940 until he retired in August 1971 during which time he had earned a total of about C$35,000.
But upon retirement he and his beneficiaries owned millions of dollars worth of assets. This included over 50 properties, various bank accounts, investments in Hong Kong, Florida, Thailand and British Columbia.
Last month, seven years after the corrupt cop, known as one of the “Five Dragons†died – his family reached an out of court settlement and gave up about C$20 million dollars worth of property to the government of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government had launched a lawsuit to get at the assets which they said was obtained through corrupt means by Hon and his henchmen.
The assets handed over were all in Hong Kong and do not include the millions of dollars worth of property and investments linked to Hon in Canada.
A covert police study obtained by The Asian Pacific Post showed that Hon and his family had bought at least 11 residential and commercial properties and established a dozen companies in Vancouver and a restaurant on Robson Street.
The properties were mainly located in the posh Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale and South Granville neighbourhoods.
The police study done by Asian Organized Crime Investigators believes that up to 44
former Royal Hong Kong cops, followed the lead of Hon and the other so-called “Five Dragons†to escape a corruption crackdown and establish themselves in Canada with their ill-gotten gains.
The ex-Royal Hong Kong police officers, their wives, concubines and children have invested tens of millions of dollars in businesses and real estate in Canada, mostly in B.C. and Ontario, according to the secret Canadian police study.
The study also found that four of them, whose average salary was about HK$30,000 a year each, had built a two-tower, 600-room hotel in Toronto valued at more than $20 million.
The richest eleven of the 44 fugitive cops were estimated to have a combined asset base both directly and indirectly of some C$80 million.
“It is not exactly understood how much influence or power these former police officials possess regarding Chinese criminal activities in North America but, because of past ties, former influence, possible triad connections and money illegally obtained, they definitely could influence Chinese criminal patterns as we know them today,” the study said.
Brian McAdam, a former immigration-control officer in Hong Kong, said he managed to stop at least six ex-cops suspected of being affiliated with triads from entering Canada in the ’80s.
“But many more got through with their connections or by pumping money into investor immigration schemes,” he told The Asian Pacific Post in an interview on this subject two years ago.
“Some of these guys had close connections in high places and we were not seeing all the paperwork.”
The exodus of Hong Kong cops to Canada can be tracked back to the mid-’70s when the newly formed agency called Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began enforcing prevention-of-bribery laws.
In the ensuing investigations, ICAC brought 260 police officers to court after finding 18 criminal syndicates operating in the police force.
The criminal element in the Hong Kong police force at that time was led by five station sergeants known as the Five Dragons. One of the Dragons was Hon.
The Five Dragons, all of whom eventually ended up in Canada, had geographical control of police jurisdictions in Hong Kong and collected graft while allowing the triads to conduct their criminal activities.
In the mid-seventies as the corruption crackdown in Hong Kong intensified, Hon, despite his criminal connections, became a landed immigrant in Vancouver.
British Columbia court records show that Hon was arrested by the RCMP on June 22, 1976 at his house on 515 West 54 Ave in Vancouver on an extradition warrant issued by the Hong Kong ICAC.
At that time he was said to have in his control HK$2,343,624 (C$468,000), a sum disproportionate to his salary as a Detective Staff Seargent of the Royal Hong Kong Police Department.
The next day, Hon appeared in a Vancouver provincial court where Canadian Justice Department lawyer P.W. Halprin said Hon is a landed immigrant who arrived in Vancouver several months ago. He said police seized about C$6,000 from him when he was arrested. After spending five days in jail, Hon was released on bail after four people put up C$250,000 in property for the bail.
The bail was raised by family and friends of Hon and covered the titles of six houses.
The bail was raised by his:
i) Concubine – Kan Suk Ying (515 West 54 Ave Vancouver and later of 2008 West 51st Ave Vancouver). She raised C$120,000.
ii) Son – David Hon Kam Hung (Date of Birth 2 Sept 1950/B.C.Driving Licence 2788025) and his wife Alice Hon Yoke Leng (DOB 14 Aug 1949/BCDL 2116473). They raised C$48,500.
iii) Fei-Fung Lui, a UBC student who listed her address as 4135 Salish Drive, Vancouver. She raised C$81,500.
The judge also ordered Hon’s three passports British, Taiwan and Chinese – to be held. On March 2, 1977, after several legal delays an extradition hearing began.
Hon’s lawyer, H.A.D. Oliver, who later went on to become a judge and a conflict-of-interest commissioner, applied for the case to be thrown out on a technicality involving the law.
Three months later, a Federal Court judge agreed with Hon’s lawyer and ordered the extradition hearing stopped. Hon is released, bail is discontinued and his three passports returned. The government of Canada appealed this ruling to the Federal Court of Appeals Canada.
On January 24, 1978, the Federal Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and ordered Hon’s re-arrest and the resumption of extradition hearings but by that time Hon had left Canada for Taiwan.
Hon died at the age of 76 in August 1999 in Taipei. The following year the Justice Department of Hong Kong began its court challenge to go after Hon’s estate.
In an analytical report done by the RCMP liaison office in Hong Kong around the time the corrupt cops were fleeing, it was estimated “that 35 per cent of all Chinese policemen were triad members.”
Police officers and lawyers familiar with proceeds of crime investigations said the money brought in by the corrupt Hong Kong cops is likely to have been legitimized through a variety of means and that there is very little the authorities can do now, unless the same players are actively involved in criminal enterprises.
The conclusion to Hon’s case marks the end of a string of police corruption cases in Hong Kong dating from the 1970s, Chinese media reported.
One of those cases involved retired detective sergeant Lui Lok, who also invested his fortune in Vancouver. Civil proceedings began in 1978 and an out-of-court settlement was reached with his family in 1986.
Civil proceedings were also launched by the Hong Kong government against the other fugitive cops and assets recovered, but the repossession of Hon’s assets was far and away the largest of the lot, Chinese news media said.
Former ICAC deputy director of operations Alex Tsui Ka-kit, one of the investigators in Hon’s case, described the settlement as “sensible and reasonable”.
In a telephone interview with the South China Morning Post, Tsui said: “The man [Hon] is no longer here. But the case has dragged on and on for so many years, with so much time and effort having been put into it.It is about time it came to an end. The settlement is also a relief for the members of his family, who have been under a lot of pressure.”
Anti-Corruption Drive Secret of Hong Kong’s Prosperity
By Heda Bayron
Hong Kong
25 July 2006
International business executives rank Hong Kong as one of least corrupt cities in the world. That reputation has become one of the secrets of its economic success. But some 40 years ago, the city suffered from endemic corruption.
Vendors in this Hong Kong wet market call out to shoppers to buy fresh fish, meat and vegetables. Business is brisk.
But some 40 years ago, gangs – known as triads – their police protectors and corrupt government officials terrorized markets like these, extorting money from hawkers in exchange for letting their stalls stay open.
Hong Kong people call it the “bad old days,” when blatant bribery took place in nearly all aspects of life in the then-British colony – in getting driver’s licenses, school placement, public housing and even medical help.
“The triads harassed hawkers especially during the Chinese New Year when vendors want to have a better location for their stalls. So they have to pay a few dollars,” she recalled.
Professor King Tsao, a corruption expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, witnessed blatant police corruption.
“I remember when I was a kid and I went to the wet market with my mom and I remember vividly there were some policemen – just passed by to patrol – and they collected cash, $10, from each hawker,” he said. “They were not worried that someone would witness it, report it. They thought that was part of their life, part of their jobs to do everyday to collect money.”
Yet the police department was supposed to investigate corruption and the public seemingly had no recourse. But that changed when mass protests erupted in 1973 after a police superintendent, then under a graft investigation, escaped from Hong Kong.
The British colonial government was forced to take radical steps, enacting strong anti-bribery laws, and creating an independent anti-corruption body, the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption).
Today, Hong Kong is a clean and prosperous city. Many here credit this success to the ICAC.
Armed with unprecedented police-like powers to investigate, arrest suspects and seize assets, the ICAC quickly broke up police protection rackets and pursued corrupt government officials.
By the late 1970s, the ICAC says reports of corruption dropped by more than half.
Rebecca Li, the assistant director for operations of the ICAC, explains the commission’s strategy.
“The ICAC from the outset adopted a comprehensive strategy in combating corruption through the three-pronged approach – strict law enforcement, corruption prevention and community education,” she said. “The government has been giving the ICAC sufficient resources to enable us to carry out our work effectively. We also have the necessary legal muscle in place.”
She adds that public support has also been key in stamping out corruption.
“I think it’s very clear that what made Hong Kong transform is the strong desire of the community to finally do something about the problem of corruption,” she added. “Corruption is a highly secretive crime. Without the support and cooperation of the public in reporting corruption, then the ICAC wouldn’t have been successful.”
Initially, people were wary to report corruption to the ICAC but today, about three fourth of complaints are no longer anonymous.
The commission airs commercials like these regularly to keep public vigilance.
“And corruption won’t vanish on its own. Report corruption to the ICAC and together we can build a fairer, better world.”
Professor Tsao and other experts say Hong Kong’s clean reputation has been one of the secrets of its economic success.
“Businessmen have the certainty to invest,” he explained. “They know that their money will not go into the pockets of the government officials, just like some other Asian countries.”
Tsao says other countries in the region facing endemic corruption could learn from Hong Kong. He, however, notes that having the legal muscle, government and public support are not enough. He says Hong Kong also improved vital social services such as public housing and free education – something so scarce in the 1960s that people had to resort to bribery to get them.
Despite the city’s success, Hong Kong authorities forge on with their battle against corruption. A recent challenge comes from rising complaints of private sector corruption and transnational crime.
Still, many here say they remain confident in the ICAC.’s ability to crackdown on new sources of corruption and to safeguard Hong Kong’s hard-earned economic success.
So the question is why isn’t the Government learning?
The British colonial government was forced to take radical steps, enacting strong anti-bribery laws, and creating an independent anti-corruption body, the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption).
——————————
The only way this country is able to establish a Hong Kong-style ICAC is to get the Brits to come back and recolonize the country
If the Local ACA will ever learn from the Singapore ACA or the Hong Kong ICAC,then I can say Malaysia ada harapan.But alas do you think all these busuk can of worms and the rotten hampas manusia from those in power will ever be dealt with?Fat hope.
ACA = Anything Can Aje
Liu
Impressive report and information; thanks
Maybe our Agong should order such a commission to be established and appoint people like Tun Hanif Omar to head such a commission to save our beloved country.
liu.
WOW. THAT ‘S IMPRESSIVE.
YOU SHOULD RUN FOR PARLIAMENT .
YB. LIM. you should recruit liu. unless he is indeed ronnie liu.
regardless, I am impressed.
This is what happened because of corruption, a bus crashed at North-South Expressway, 19 killed. According to an article from The Star, The bus driver had 13 summonses and 2 warrant of arrest, 19 summonses against the Bus since 1991. As to my understanding, if got summonses against a vehicle, we couldn’t get Roadtax, so how come the bus still able to operate until 2007 since 1991??? Whats the point of imposing fines when the authority doesn’t want to follow-up. They’ve been sitting in the police station whole day doing nothing? Go and clear the out-standing issues when free, will ya.
Mr Lim KitSiang,
Nowadays police station are equiped with Ogawa massager, whats the purpose of it? Probably you can address this, I’ve seen 4 of those massagers at Puchong police station. No wonder crime rate increased, they’re relaxing in the police station.
It’s been a month since the day my friend got beaten up by some drunkard at Puchong and we made a police report right after that, the sarjan still jokingly said to us “Buat apa report police? Mau saya tangkap dia pastu kasi you one on one ar? Saya jadi refree la”. What kind of attitude is this? We want justice, and this is what we get. They are probably too concentrating in bribery and neglected their main task. Probably the case will went cold, coz the fellow that beaten up my friend is just staying nearby that police station and we already provided the car number plate of that road-bully.
Pak Lah wants to emulate HK and Shenzhen for the IDR mega project.
HK/Shenzhen succeeded because in HK they have ICAC and in Shenzhen, China they put a bullet into your head immediately after the trial if you are found guilty of corruption.
Here, if you are involved in questionable activities, you are deemed a hero and moved to higher office. We have examples of former railway gateman building mansions and made local councillors, former chief ministers caught with large , unexplained sums of money appointed to Parliament and sons-in-law of key politicians involved with mega bailouts promised higher office in the near future.
Moral of the story? The more corrupted you are, the higher up the political ladder you will climb because you are useful to act as runners for those who walk in the corridors of power.
TDM, what brain drain?
We have the smartest crooks around la. Even those ACA and police cant catch them.
NOw the Indons are coming in droves to our shores to learn the tricks of the trades. MOst of them would risk their lives and come in illegally.
Badawi as Internal Security Minister is caught between the two factions in the Police force. He looks right and left, and he can’t decide. So he does what is best for him – snooze.
Young idiot who can borrow enough money to buy over big companies such as EC-AM should be investigated!
If the 40% corrupt is top down, then it would be a case of corrupt bosses leading honest personnel downside who merely follow orders and who would be corrupted in due course.
If the 40% is from bottoms up, then the honest top can’t get anything done ’cause they don’t have anybody to do an honest and effective clean-up job.
If the 40% is from all levels, then it just means that the force is corrupted everywhere. The cancer has already spread everywhere. Its a gone case. The Force will soon be dead and it will be time to start from scratch again with a new force.
Ah. Hanif can speak his mind now but how was the force when he was in charge? And does anyone who can get things done listens or pay attention to him and try and get things corrected? If not, it will be another empty Tun making much noise.
See what has happened to the IPCMC? Alot of time, money and effort gone to waste. We remain no better.
Even Tun Hanif spoken out that 40% of the senior officers could be arrested!
Pak Lah, still wants to cover up and remains silence on the whole issue?? One scandal after another closed and forgotten??!! And they accuse bloggers to be liars?!
Who else to be blamed?
Rakyat Malaysia, inilah Kerajaan Malaysia sekarang.
DAP, PAS and Keadilan need to form a strong Barisan Alternative to fight BN. I believe each of these parties has strong points. Unfortunately, when they come together there are many differences. If these parties can somehow work together as a team, rest assure Malaysia would have a better future similar to those in US and Britain where opposition is strong and either one can win.
Did someone once mention our sleeping prince is in charge of the PDRM ? The Altantuya murder trial makes me see the shambles PDRM is in. There is no proper record keeping. The evidences are tampered with. The police officers themselves give different answers in the court. They should be charged with contempt of the court. But of course the worst is murdering someone because somebody gave the executive order to. I admire their dark blue commanding uniform. I admire how smart they look in that uniform. I admire how decent they look in that uniform. But that is just superficial.
No wonder Namewee wanted to sing about all the things that are kept hidden. It must have taken a whole lot of pride for his daddy to apologize to a government which is accountable for the good image of the PDRM. There was one word in that apology which summed up the situation we are in.
Oh another case. The bus that overturned and killed so many passengers in it. How many summons were issued out ? How many times was that bus company charged ? And yet it still runs on the road.
So Malaysians have run out of ideas. How to be cemerlang, gemilang and terbilang if there are nothing but skulls without the brains around. We are so good in copying, in using templates and in using other people’s ideas. This means that we don’t have any human assets or human capital at all. In another words, we are just robots waiting for programmes to be keyed in before we can do anything.
With such police force, Malaysia is rotten away fast!
Why the …Bad-awi still need to hold so many posts?
I never curse anyone b4, but I hope lighning strikes on him!!!
Inside Investigations
Godber Case
Godber’s Downfall – the Landmark case
“Godber’s Gone!” It was June 8, 1973, and Peter Fitzroy Godber, the Police Chief Superintendent accused of corruption, succeeded in sneaking out of Hong Kong, heading home to Britain by taking a detour through Singapore. The news about his escape buzzed through the community, causing uproar among the public that had long suffered from rampant corruption. Public confidence in the Government’s efforts to fight corruption plummeted.
People from all walks of life took to the streets, chanting slogans of “Fight corruption, arrest Godber”. To ease the furore, the then Governor Sir Murray MacLehose appointed Senior Puisne Judge Sir Alastair Blair-Kerr to form a Commission of Inquiry to look into the circumstances of Godber’s escape, and to review anti-corruption work of that time.
In October 1973, the Government adopted the Blair-Kerr Commission’s recommendations and in February 1974 established the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The ICAC was separate from the Police Force and the rest of the civil service. Among its first daunting tasks was bringing Godber, once a powerful Police Chief Superintendent, to book.
The probe begins
A remittance of Canadian $12,000 first raised the Police Force’s suspicion about Godber’s financial resources. Although the Police did not have any information to show that the deposit was the proceeds of corruption, the mere fact that Godber had used a pseudonym “P.F. Gedber” and conjured up a false diplomatic identity to open an account with a Canadian bank was sufficient to set in motion a Police investigation into such unusual behaviour.
The trail of fortune
The Police launched its investigation codenamed “Havana” in 1971 but made little headway. During the investigation, Godber applied for early retirement, effective from July 1973. Three months prior to that retirement date, the Commissioner of Police received intelligence alleging that Godber was incessantly remitting considerable sums of money abroad. In response, the Anti-Corruption Office launched a large-scale probe into Godber’s financial position. Within a month, 480 licensed banks in Hong Kong were contacted with a view to tracking down accounts linked to the Chief Superintendent. Initial findings showed that the credit balances of Godber Hong Kong accounts were close to HK$330,000 and a sum of Canadian $20,000 had just been remitted to an account he held in Canada. When Godber applied to further bring forward his retirement by one month, the Police expedited their search for evidence. They then found that in the previous five years, Godber’s deposits in Hong Kong, coupled with his remittances to Australia, Singapore, Canada and other places, amounted to more than HK$624,000 – a sum almost equivalent to the total emolument he had earned while working in the Police Force between 1952 and 1973.
The millionaire cop
At this point, a prima facie case was established, but the Police were still unable to prove that Godber’s wealth was amassed through illegal means. Nevertheless, the Police decided there was no point in delaying any longer as Godber was planning to leave Hong Kong soon for his retirement. They applied to the Commissioner of Police to suspend Godber from duty pending further investigation. And, on the advice of the Attorney-General, they cited Section 10 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance for the first time to require Godber to explain, within a week, where his financial resources had come from. On the day Godber was informed of the probe into his financial position, investigators searched Godber’s quarters and car, resulting in the seizure of three plastic writing cases, suspected of being “bribe money logbooks” a large number of documents relating to his finances and two boxes containing dozens of silver bars.
Godber’s financial resources had suddenly become worth more than HK$4,370,000 – six times his total official income since he joined the Police Force! Considering the standard of living in Hong Kong of the early 1970s, Godber could well join the super rich club!
The escape
After searching Godber’s home and car, the Police’s next move was to be Godber’s arrest if he failed to give a satisfactory explanation of his financial affairs upon the expiry of the seven-day deadline. And to thwart any attempt to evade justice, the Police requested the Immigration Department to notify all control points at Kai Tak Airport to stop Godber from leaving the territory.
The Police would have succeeded, if not for the seven-day “vacuum period” It had been unable to garner sufficient evidence against Godber before that June 11 deadline, so they could neither arrest him nor take any legal action. Godber, therefore, had a chance to play his “trump card” which was a special airport security permit issued to police officers. He used the permit to circumvent immigration controls and headed for England en route Singapore on June 8. The fact that the highest-ranking corrupt police officer in the history of Hong Kong could so easily have slipped out of the territory undetected caused an explosion of pent-up grievances of the public. To placate public anger, the Government set up the ICAC to replace the Police Force’s Anti-Corruption Office. The cases already under investigation by the Police were immediately taken over by the ICAC. Among them was the Godber file – ironically, it was the case that led to the creation of the ICAC that was to be its first major case.
The search for new evidence
Having fled Hong Kong so easily, Godber was confident he could remain free. The difference in the laws of Britain and Hong Kong had convinced him that he could never be extradited from the United Kingdom on a charge of possessing “financial assets disproportionate to his official emolument” because no similar offence was stipulated in England.
Such smug calculations may have worked but for the ICAC’s persistence to unearth new evidence. The ICAC deployed a core group comprising such top officers as John Prendergast, Director of Operations, Gerald Harknett, Deputy Director of Operations and two Assistant Directors to follow up the case. The biggest problem they faced was that although there was material evidence, they were unable to find any witnesses. Wong Kwok-leung, incumbent ICAC Chief Investigator, who was involved in the pursuit of Godber, said, “We did have in our hands a lot of material evidence to prove Godber controlled a huge amount of unexplained assets. It’s just too bad that nobody was willing to come forward to testify against him. Perhaps, people were still rather conservative in those days; they’d rather choke with silent fury instead of speaking out. On the other hand, it’s also because they were unsure about the newly-formed ICAC. However, we believed time and performance could help us gain their trust.”
The last nail in the coffin
The breakthrough came after months of relentless effort by the ICAC. A former expatriate police superintendent, who was in prison for another bribery case, expressed his willingness to provide essential evidence relating to Godber’s corrupt activities. He said he had witnessed Godber accepting a bribe of HK$25,000 from a former Chinese superintendent for helping the latter secure the “fat job” of superintendent in the Wan Chai Police Station. The information was so important that the Director and Deputy Director of Operations were personally involved in collating this evidence and had a number of interviews with the superintendent in the prison. Based on that testimony, investigators immediately arrested the Chinese superintendent who allegedly paid for a bribe for his Wan Chai posting. With the assistance of the UK police, Godber was arrested on April 29, 1974. Subsequently, both the jailed expatriate superintendent and the Chinese superintendent became tainted witnesses, testifying against Godber.
Their testimony tallied with the material evidence collected. Among the material seized by the Police from Godber’s residence, the ICAC investigators had found two notes, in his handwriting, containing information about his resources. They showed that after that Chinese superintendent paid his bribe, Godber’s assets jumped by about HK$90,000 between May and November, 1971. This was believed to have included the $25,000 for the Wan Chai posting and other illegal payments obtained by Godber.
The journey to justice
With these witnesses and mounting material evidence, investigators started to prepare for Godber’s extradition. Godber fought against being returned to Hong Kong to face trial, denying that he had committed the alleged offences. After several hearings, the ICAC finally won the case and obtained an extradition order from the London court, ending an eight-month court battle.
With the London court order, Godber was taken aboard a plane and escorted back to Hong Kong on January 7, 1975 under exceptionally tight security. He was ordered to face trial at the Victoria District Court on February 17. The Government, for the first time, appointed a leading counsel from UK to act as the prosecutor in the trial – demonstrating the importance being attached to this case and the Government’s determination to combat corruption.
Godber was charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of accepting a bribe. Convicted in the six-and-a-half-day trial, Godber was sentenced to four years, imprisonment – and the HK$25,000 he took as a bribe was ordered to be confiscated.
Ti-liang Yang, who was the presiding judge in the Godber case, said, “In this case, the maximum jail terms for the two offences Godber committed were five and seven years, respectively. When meting out the sentence, consideration was given to the year he had already spent in prison in England, so the actual prison term imposed on Godber was quite close to the maximum penalty.” Godber appealed against the sentence to the Full Court of the Supreme Court in Hong Kong and subsequently to the Privy Council in London but both appeals were dismissed, landing the once prominent figure in the Police Force in jail to pay a high price for his corrupt deeds.
The ICAC later filed a writ to try to recover, through civil proceedings, the $4 million in assets suspected to be corrupt income. Despite difficulties encountered in seizing assets spread across several continents, the ICAC still has not given up the hunt for those missing millions.
Post-script :
Determined to plug legal loopholes identified in the course of the Godber investigation, the Government repealed the provisions concerning the period allowed for making representations on the source of income under Section 10 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. The successful conclusion of the case rebutted criticism that the ICAC would only catch flies, but not tigers. It also helped the ICAC win recognition and faith among the public. As Mr Yang remarked, this case was not only an important milestone for the Commission, but also was instrumental in restoring public confidence in the Government and the justice system.
Side Bar 1 – Godber’s ill-gotten gains
He earned not more than $770,000 in his 22 years of service with the Police Force. He did not gamble nor did he invest. So how could Godber amass a fortune of more than HK$4.3 million? The following records give you the clue.
“Catchment area” for Godber’s corrupt activities: Throughout the territory – Hong Kong Island to Kowloon, the New Territories and the outlying islands.
Records : Three log books marked “Hong Kong Island”, “Kowloon” and “New Territories” respectively. More than 200 pages of entries were recorded.
Units offering bribes : Over 3,000
Sectors offering bribes: Vice, gambling and drug establishments such as off-course horse racing, off-course greyhound racing, brothels, nightclubs, mahjong schools and opium dens, etc.
Monthly income: According to evidence given by a tainted witness, the amount of “squeeze money” Godber received every month totalled as much as $30,000, higher than the Governor’s salary at that time!
Godber’s fortune
Place of Deposit Amount Value in HK Dollars
Canada Can$206,492 HK$1,044,850
California, USA US$233,944 1,184,924
Singapore A$181,090 1,285,740
Singapore S$119,410 241,209
England £19,907 274,712
Hong Kong HK$345,813 345,813
Grand Total: 4,377,248
Student Activist Turned Graft Fighter
Godber’s escape had a profound impact on the life of Gilbert Chan Tak-shing. Now an assistant director in the Operations Department, Mr Chan was an active member of the then anti-corruption student movement. It was during the heyday of the movement that he met his wife and a friend who influenced him so much that Mr Chan chose fighting graft as his career.
At the peak of the movement, Mr Chan was just a freshman at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Recalling what happened then, Mr Chan said, “Anti-corruption banners and newspaper clippings were all over the office of the students’ union. Activities related to the anti-corruption cause dominated the one-week freshmen’s orientation camp. Even after the orientation week, anti-graft activities continued to be part of routine campus life with more than a hundred students gathering at lunch break to discuss the corruption problem.” These activities lasted until the ICAC was set up in February 1974 and all along, Mr Chan remained a keen supporter of the movement.
Those student movement days obviously had planted the seeds of Mr Chan’s mission to be part of Hong Kong’s anti-corruption cause. Hence without any second thought, he chose to join the ICAC, instead of the business sector, immediately after he graduated from the Business School of the University.
The Lucrative Post
It was the most prestigious post and a corrupt police officer could make between $60,000 to $100,000 a month from the job. With these “benefits”, it was not surprising that the position of Divisional Superintendent Wan Chai was such a hotly sought-after one in the 1970s. And that also explained why the former Chinese superintendent who bribed Godber to secure the post was willing to pay as much as $25,000, a sum enough to buy a luxury flat at that time.
To Godber, the deal with the Chinese superintendent served him well. Not only could he get a one-off bribe of $25,000, but he could also rest assured that he would be able to continue to draw his “unofficial income” from Wan Chai.
At the time the deal was struck, Godber was occupying a Police Headquarters post which he described as “a desert” that no money could be made from. However, despite this, Godber still managed to obtain bribe money from various police divisions and Wan Chai alone was responsible for $5,000 a month, according to a tainted witness of the case. With speculation rife at the time that the Wan Chai post would soon be taken over by Godber’s arch rival who was reputed to be an honest officer, Godber was afraid that if the rumour was true, the money he was drawing from Wan Chai would stop immediately. Hence his plan to secure the position for the Chinese superintendent whom he could influence.
Following the deal, the Chinese superintendent was indeed appointed to the lucrative post, but the truth is that the Police Posting Board had decided months before the deal to post him to the Wan Chai division. And Godber, notwithstanding his claim to lobby for the Chinese superintendent, had not approached anyone for that purpose.
The First Generation Witness Protection Section
“He didn’t like us to be inside his house. Therefore we had to stay outside. With our ‘protection’, he felt so at ease that he often went out shopping and dining,” a former member of the ICAC’s surveillance team Leung Lee-shing recalled his experience in protecting the Chinese superintendent, a tainted witness in the Godber case. The special assignment was the very first witness protection operation that the ICAC had and the officers involved had to work round-the-clock for about three months to ensure the safety of the superintendent.
Before the Godber investigation, the ICAC did not have a formal witness protection programme. It was the landmark case that brought together armed investigators and surveillance officers to carry out the ICAC’s first such assignment. And Mr Leung and another investigator, Wong Kwok-leung, were among those involved in the maiden operation.
Mr Wong said that as firearms and witness protection training were not available when the ICAC was first established, members of the team were all selected from those who had received similar training from either the Police or the military. And officers from the surveillance section were also drafted in to help carry out anti-surveillance work. The ad hoc set-up worked so well that it was, in effect, taken as the first generation witness protection section.
As members of the team, both Mr Leung and Mr Wong found the job exciting and rewarding. But it had never occurred to Mr Leung that he would have to pay a price for taking up the assignment. As he had to provide “close protection” to the tainted witness during the trial, he was caught by news cameras and his identity became exposed. In the circumstances, Mr Leung could no longer work in the surveillance section. But he felt no regret as he was so proud that he could be part of such a special assignment.
Liu, it isn’t that the Malaysian Police is not capable of doing the same. You seem so naive. It is just that why do it when it would lead to properties and investments in the hundreds of millions US dollars owned by some of their very top brass!
Some of the less senior officers who have not gone anywhere have assets worth millions of ringgit and living way beyond their means. What does that tell you about their bosses??
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/20070814120656/Article/index_html
Pocketed RM28,220 but fined only RM20,000… What about the remaining RM8,220? A gift to him from the government?
Undergrad2, I was referring to the government, not the Malaysian police. It is a question that the Prime Minister himself has to answer. Take care to read before you pass judgement.
Mr LIM ,Corruption is so bad in our ” BOLEH LAND” it made me sick.A few months ago my brother pass away on a saturday ,this was what happen. Since my brother died at home of a heart attack ,a post mortem had to be done , no prolem in that, what was shocking was that the H.A said ” That it can only be done on tuesday ” here we are griving ,so what to do we went home, This takes the cake,
Before we can reach the house i got a call on my hand phone,The caller said he can get my brother,s body released in an hours time, huh i, said thats good i thought ,then he said i have to pay for this favoure.What to do lah so i said ok , How this guy know my number,You do the maths.