Simon Peh Yun-lu, the new chief of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, is likely to have proven his hard-nosed credentials by keeping out of the city people whom Beijing has deemed as persona non grata.
The former director of immigration now has a more challenging job - to lead the ICAC when many of Hong Kong's political elite are embroiled in graft-related scandals.
Since his appointment, doubts have been raised about whether Peh would be impartial when investigating the bigwigs. After all, he had denied entry to Hong Kong the Tiananmen dissident, Wang Dan, Danish artist Jens Galschiot (the sculptor of The Pillar of Shame, which commemorates the 1989 protests) and other politically-sensitive figures.
However, Peh said building ties with mainland authorities was not his first priority.
On his first day of work last Monday, the 56-year-old said his relationship with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who appointed him to head the 38-year-old anti-graft watchdog, was strictly professional.
'Mr [Donald] Tsang [Yam-kuen] is my former boss and Mr Leung is my current boss,' Peh said. 'Our relationship is a boss-and-subordinate relationship. We do not have any private friendship.'
But Peh admitted that he had met Leung and various ministers-designate before his official appointment 'to get acquainted' with them, which raised questions about the commission's independence.