GAINS stretching into millions stand to be made by the Government and the private sector following a landmark Privy Council decision on the Warwick Reid case.
A spin-off from the decision on Monday has cleared a path for the Hong Kong Government not only to recover bribes from employees, but also any capital gain made from investments of ill-gotten funds.
However, any Privy Council ruling only extends to common law countries so it cannot be used to snare profits from Reid's investments in Taiwan or similar financial centres.
Crown Solicitor Ian Wingfield said the Legal Department was now investigating the decision's wider applications and could use the judgment in four other bribe recovery cases underway against corrupt civil servants.
He refused to elaborate, but stressed a Privy Council judgment was ''not a matter of legislation - it is the law''.
Mr Wingfield said the judgment ''vindicated'' a decade of efforts by the Government to pursue the assets of corrupt employees.