Bribe case evidence 'died with triad boss'
KEY evidence concerning two allegedly corrupt police inspectors died when the notorious 'Tiger of Wan Chai' was murdered, the District Court was told yesterday.
Sun Yee On boss Andely Chan Yiu-hing was said to have given inspectors Peter Pannu and David Khosa $10,000 each to shield him from a police investigation.
When Chan was shot dead outside a Macau hotel on November 21, 1993, the inspectors were robbed of their chance of a fair hearing, said defence lawyer Lawrence Lok Ying-kam QC.
But prosecutor Wayne Moultrie said that were it not for Chan's murder, the senior inspectors would never have been brought to trial in the first place.
'Ironically, the death of this man gave birth to these proceedings,' he said.
He said Pannu and Khosa were first arrested in January 1993, but released because witnesses refused to give evidence.
After Chan's death, civilian witnesses Leung Ting-fong and Liu Chun-yip came forward and said the officers had taken corrupt payments from the triad boss, Mr Moultrie said. 'Once Chan had died, they no longer felt constrained about speaking,' he said.
Pannu, 31, and Khosa, 32, have pleaded not guilty to accepting an advantage as a public servant. The two officers are attached to anti-triad units in Kowloon.
Khosa and another defendant, Brar Balkar Singh, 37, also denied conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.
Brar was said to have agreed to tell police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption he had loaned Khosa the $10,000.
On January 7, 1993, Chan was invited to dinner at the Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant in Wan Chai.
That evening, Mr Leung, Mr Liu, Khosa and Pannu were said to have dined with Chan in a VIP room. It was there that the senior inspectors allegedly pocketed $20,000 offered by Chan.
Chan was interviewed by police and admitted he was with the senior inspectors in the VIP room, but denied giving them money.
Mr Lok described Chan's comments as a 'source of evidence which, if accepted, would put a complete stop to the prosecution's case'.
But his death had transformed the interview from invaluable testimony to 'out and out hearsay'.
Mr Liu was struck from the witness list after the prosecution failed to serve him a summons.
'His statement would contradict Crown witness Leung Ting-fong's testimony as to times, and what was said,' Mr Lok said.
The lawyer added that Mr Liu's absence had robbed him of the opportunity to reveal these 'glaring discrepancies' in court.
Mr Lok yesterday asked Judge Jackson to stop the trial on the grounds that the absence of Chan and Mr Liu was a violation of the inspectors' human rights.
The ICAC is calling 18 members of its surveillance team to testify. Mr Moultrie asked that their names be suppressed and their faces masked by screens - steps unprecedented in Hong Kong.
Judge Jackson adjourned his ruling on a stay of proceedings until tomorrow.
