Troubled Hong Kong graft-buster turns to retired senior investigator to beef up key section
ICAC to rehire veteran crime fighter weeks after controversial removal of female high-flier
Top-level turmoil inside the Independent Commission Against Corruption has taken a new twist after it emerged that the agency is to rehire a long-retired senior investigator to beef up its key investigative arm.
Just when it looked like weeks of uncertainty and rumour following the removal of Rebecca Li Bo-lan – the first woman to head the graft-buster’s powerful operations department – was dying down, sources have confirmed that former assistant director Ricky Chu Man-kin would be rehired “in a very senior position”.
The 63-year-old Chu, who left the commission in 2010 to become secretary-general of the Independent Police Complaints Council, is expected to return to his old stomping ground within the next few months.
His last job in the ICAC was director of corruption prevention, but during his 32-year career Chu worked as a frontline investigator on a number of big anti-graft cases.
A source with knowledge of the situation said: “Ricky has a ton of experience, both investigative and in terms of the broader community battle against corruption. He will come back into a very senior position.”
The move means that the top three men leading the ICAC’s crucial investigative unit will have the same English name, Ricky.