Wealthy clients may lose passports

More than 40 wealthy clients risk losing British passports obtained through the consultancy at the centre of the collapsed hearing.

Among them are Christina Lee, socialite and widow of the TVB founder, businessmen, lawyers, and surgeons. They were allegedly duped into paying up to $500,000 for passport applications submitted through Opportunities UK in the Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan, prosecutors said.

When Paul Samrai arrived in Hong Kong in 1990 as a barrister specialising in immigration, he was keen to cash in on the uncertainty of the elite about the handover.

He revealed the motivations of his clients to the South China Morning Post three years ago, before he was sent to prison for fraud.

'It began in earnest in Tiananmen Square. Many of Hong Kong's wealthiest citizens had already made their minds up that they were going to leave before 1997. 'Clients of mine were extremely wealthy people with families who were afraid of communist rule. I would arrange British passports for them, in their real names, in return for a fee,' Mr Samrai said.

He claimed he was merely taking advantage of legal loopholes.