The star witness in a HK$100 million fraud trial told a court yesterday how three anti-corruption agents allegedly coached him to give false evidence in a series of meetings.
Cheung Ching-ho said he wanted immunity from prosecution but ended up turning investigator and exposing the officers.
The three suspended Independent Commission Against Corruption agents - chief investigator Kevin Cho Wing-nin, 47, senior investigator Ben Chan Kai-hung, 39, and assistant investigator John Au Kim-fung, 42 - were in the dock, where they denied perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
The District Court heard that between them the three held a total of six meetings with Cheung between November 3 and December 4, 2009. They were alleged to have strongly advised Cheung against getting a lawyer and taught him how to respond to questions in court.
Cheung hid a recording device in his clothes to secretly tape two of the meetings and wrote notes on most of the meetings afterwards - as advised by his lawyer. '[I] did not feel comfortable,' Cheung told the court.
When asked why he continued to be coached by the officers, he said: 'I needed to obtain immunity from prosecution, so I had to co-operate with them.' He said he was also worried about making the officers angry if he refused to attend the meetings.
Cheung, 39, was among five people arrested by graft-busters in May 2008 for manipulating the derivatives market and laundering more than HK$100 million. He had originally been due to give evidence under immunity from prosecution against his co-accused, the mastermind behind the fraud, Raymond Ng Chun-to.