Ballistics expert to apply for judicial review after losing $8m pension

One of Hong Kong's most senior policemen ever to be jailed has vowed to take Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to court after being stripped of his estimated $8 million pension.

Brian Heard, who was a senior superintendent, was arrested after an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation revealed evidence that he had tried to secure a visa for a friend's girlfriend with bogus information.

A Sunday Morning Post investigation, however, has revealed Mr Heard was taken to court despite the fact the Immigration Department had already probed the same charges and called for no further action.

It also revealed an internal feud within the Forensic Firearms Examination Bureau, which was run by Mr Heard, that drove his subordinates to accuse police management of a corruption cover-up.

'I feel appalled at the way I have been treated. They have ignored 25 years' loyal service to Hong Kong and the upkeep of law and order, and at the stroke of a pen they have doomed me and my family to poverty throughout my retirement,' Mr Heard said.

'I don't know whether there was a racial element to all this but it certainly helps the government coffers by depriving an expat officer of the pension he was entitled to,' said the 56-year-old.