Against the odds

Self-made multimillionaire Yang Yuan-loong was likeable and cosmopolitan, a man who rubbed shoulders with British colonial rulers, Australian jockeys and the average Hongkonger. He was also a cheat. The textile tycoon and horse owner was at the centre of the 1986 Shanghai Conspiracy case, which rocked the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club to its sedate foundations. He died on June 26, his 83rd birthday, in Adventist Hospital. It was a death that was a long time coming: doctors said in 1986 when Yang was on trial for conspiracy to cheat at gambling that the wealthy merchant was dying of uncontrolled diabetes and bone cancer and had only weeks or months to live. Accepting a plea for mercy, Mr Justice Addison in September 1986 sentenced Yang to a two-year suspended jail term and fined him HK$5.4 million. Yang immediately wrote a cheque to pay the fine and two days later travelled overseas. He spent much time in Jamaica and reportedly was treated for bone cancer in the US. Sentencing Yang, the judge described him as 'thoroughly dishonest'. He had embarked on a 'monumental form of cheating', Mr Justice Addison said. Yang was the mainspring of the conspiracy of an elaborate race-fixing racket. As Yang sat weeping in court during the short hearing after he pleaded guilty to six charges of conspiring to cheat at gambling, testimonials to his character were read out. They included letters from former governor Sir David Trench, the then senior member of Legislative Council, now baroness, Lydia Dunn, and the former chief secretary, Sir Philip Haddon-Cave, who was a close friend of Yang. Whether they believed he was dying or not, they swore to his good character. Shortly before his arrest, Yang was a regular tennis opponent of Sir Philip at his official residence, Victoria House, on The Peak. But he could more often be found at the racecourse. In breach of Jockey Club rules, Yang was said to own six horses in the names of others and to have controlled 35 horses. Little wonder that Yang was known as The King of Horses. Less respectfully, he was called Mr Fixit because he could fix races. But that name only became widely used after February 20, 1986, when the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) launched 3am raids and arrested 22 people. Among them were horse owners, trainers, jockeys and a senior Jockey Club official. The wave of arrests and subsequent disclosures shocked the racing world. It was revealed that stewards and senior staff of the Jockey Club had been working with the ICAC. This co-operation reflected the stewards' determination to clean up racing, newspapers reported. The raids had 'smashed the backbone of the notorious Shanghai syndicate whose members were heavily involved in race fixing', the South China Morning Post reported. The ICAC had been investigating the syndicate for more than a year and for six months of that time Jockey Club stewards had been aware of the probe. On-course surveillance cameras had been focused on conspirators and they had been videotaped throughout the racing season. The footage showed hand signals between owners, trainers, jockeys and illegal bookies. The arrests led to a number of court appearances, all of them creating a sensation. Yang's appearance in September 1986, in which he pleaded guilty and got his suspended sentence was the first case settled. In addition to the court's punishment, the Jockey Club issued an order that banned him from race courses around the world for 25 years. This order was still in force when he died. Later that year, Australian jockey David Brosnan pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy, similar to the six charges levelled against Yang. The rider was not as fortunate as the owner; Brosnan was jailed for a year and fined HK$300,000. Veteran trainer Roy Edwards, 60, turned up at court partially paralysed and in a wheelchair. He also avoided prison on medical grounds; he was fined HK$300,000 but released on a suspended sentence so he could be treated for a stroke. In July 1989, three jockeys involved in the conspiracy faced their day of judgment. A jury took 15 hours to deliberate before convicting riders Tam Man-chau, Chan Yuk-pui and Wong Yun-sang. All had denied being involved in the race-fixing ring and had pleaded not guilty. They each were sentenced to 18 months' jail. The jurors could not reach a decision about businessman Bill Chan Wai-lim. He was tried again in September 1989 and found to have no case to answer. The hugely expensive legal proceedings against the jockeys and Bill Chan were studded with drama. A preliminary hearing began in June 1987 against Bill Chan, the three jockeys and businessman Allen Tang Fei-wan. In May 1988 a jury of five men and two women were selected to hear the case. The trial opened with Mr Justice O'Dea on the bench. Yang gave evidence long distance; his testimony was video recorded in a San Francisco courtroom. He was a witness for the prosecution but said he would not return to Hong Kong for health reasons. He admitted he was no longer being treated for cancer. Former champion jockey Gary Moore flew back from riding in France to give evidence against the five men in the dock. Then the trial was sensationally derailed - jockey David Brosnan, who was a key witness, approached a woman juror in a Central bar and told her 'the wrong people' were on trial. Judge O'Dea had no option; he declared a mis-trial and stepped down from the case. In December, the case was reopened before Judge Barnett. The next month, Judge Barnett announced he could not hear the case because a friend of his was likely to be a witness. Mr Justice Ryan then took over. Meanwhile, a second jury was discharged when a woman juror said she was thinking about her work and could not concentrate on the case. A third jury was stopped in its tracks because one of the jurors was a former Jockey Club employee. Then the case took another astounding turn; defendant Allen Tang was granted immunity and instead of being one of the accused became a chief witness for the prosecution. As the three years of legal drama continued, Yang continued to run his thriving textile business from America and Jamaica. There were rumours that he declined to return to Hong Kong because, although he had faced the courts, he was afraid of being charged with more offences. The videotapes that had been played in court were intriguing. The jockeys were charged with conspiring with Yang and others to win money illegally from the Jockey Club by 'attempting to influence the outcome of races'. In other words, they were pulling horses to order. All these efforts to plot with trainers and jockeys seem to have made Yang little profit. In a second video deposition made in San Francisco and played in the courtoom, Yang told of losing money and suffering great embarrassment in front of friends because of getting inaccurate tips from Allen Tang Fei-wan, whom he employed to give him racing information. He replaced him with former police superintendent Eddie Au Yeung. Au Yeung told the court that in six months Yang had lost HK$17 million in bets he made for himself and trainers and jockeys. Yang had been told jockeys were cheating him and he was bound to lose. 'But he refused to listen because he could afford it,' Au Yeung said. Before his arrest and downfall, Yang Yuan-loong enjoyed the best that Hong Kong had to offer. His business, which supplied garments to top brand name companies around the world, was enormously successful. He was hugely liked by many people. His friends could be found in Government House, the Mandarin Oriental Grill and standing along the rails at Happy Valley watching dawn track work. 'Y.L. was a victim of the punt,' recalled one friend yesterday. 'He loved life and he loved people but he also loved a gamble on the horses.' He was happily married and is survived by his wife and two daughters. One of them is Marjorie Yang, chairwoman of Esquel Group of Companies, the world's leading manufacturers of men's shirts.