Former high-flying stockbroker Arthur Lai Cheuk-kwan and his four co-defendants were unanimously cleared yesterday of all charges in the Tomson Pacific fraud trial.
The verdicts brought to a close a multi-million dollar six-month trial, sparked by a four-year probe into the 1990 takeover of the World Trade Centre Group.
The case is one of the longest and most costly ever brought by the Government and the court's decision could spell an end to future investigations into the takeover.
It is also likely to raise questions about the Government's handling of the case.
The defendants expressed thanks and hugged their barristers as family members in the gallery at the Court of First Instance wept, watching the accused walk from the dock.
The jury had the task of deciding whether the five had conspired to defraud the Securities and Futures Commission over the Tomson Pacific takeover of the World Trade Centre Group, formerly known as Bond Corp International.