Reid to get $800,000 golden handshake

A GOLDEN handshake between the Hong Kong Government and corrupt lawyer Warwick Reid will see his family given $800,000 in addition to $1.3 million his wife drained from their nest-egg of bribe money. A long and costly battle with Reid to find and seize millions in bribes paid to him as former acting Director of Public Prosecutions was yesterday declared a 'draw' by the Crown Solicitor, Ian Wingfield. In a revealing insight into how the Reids elaborately kept the money out of the Government's reach until a recent breakthrough, Mr Wingfield conceded the family had already benefited financially to the tune of about $1.3 million. And Reid, who once wrote 'try Amex' across a demand for payment of his ill-gotten gains, could still walk away from prison on Tuesday and gain US$300,000 (HK$2.31 million) held in an account in his and his wife's name by a lawyer in Taipei. But Mr Wingfield said if the US$300,000 was not returned to the Government's coffers, a new and formal agreement with the Reids would be declared null and void - and legal action against him and family members would be restarted. 'There is still some doubt [over the US$300,000]. We have not got it under our control,' said Mr Wingfield. 'The element of doubt is that the solicitor in Taipei must act on the instructions he's been given [by the Reids]. But we have no reason to believe that we won't get it. We undoubtedly would litigate further if the deal was broken.' The agreed payoff to the Reid family, on top of what they have already received from the $12.4 million in bribes he admitted receiving, led to charges last night that the Government was rewarding crime with a financial bonus. 'In this case large sums of money corruptly obtained seem to have been used by the family - and I do not think he should be able to walk away, having not paid back to the fullest extent possible,' said legislator Jimmy McGregor. Senior lawyers familiar with the case said Reid had done everything in his power to keep his ill-gotten gains and now the Government was sending a message that crime pays. For the past five years Reid's family has lived rent-free in a house in Tauranga, New Zealand, which was at least partly paid for by corrupt money. The Government has given the family a deadline of two months after his prison release in which to move out so that the property can be sold. Half the proceeds of the sale, estimated at $800,000, will go towards the golden handshake agreed with Reid. Reid will be deported immediately after being freed from prison where he has served four years and eight months of an eight-year sentence for having assets he could not explain - and taxpayers will pay his one-way air fare. But Mr Wingfield defended the deal and said the Government 'feels a responsibility' to the disgraced lawyer and his family because of his unique position as an informer and Crown witness, adding 'we have no wish to see Judith and the children on the street'. However, he conceded that Mrs Reid had drawn substantial amounts of money from the corrupt funds and used it to live on and travel between Hong Kong and New Zealand to visit Reid in prison. 'After four years supporting herself and three children, it's not unlikely that she has expended that amount [$1.3 million]. We are satisfied that it has been spent. It has not set her up for life,' said Mr Wingfield. Much of the work in tracing and retrieving the bribe money, which Reid took as head of the Legal Department's Commercial Crime Unit, fell to private law firm Herbert Smith. The total cost of the related legal actions has been about $3 million, not $6 million as reported elsewhere. Asked if the Government could feel satisfied that under a best-case scenario it would receive a total of $7.582 million out of the $12.4 million in bribes Reid took, Mr Wingfield said: 'Score a draw.' He said it would have been preferable to obtain more at less cost to taxpayers, but much of the money had been spent by Reid during his escape, by his accomplices and, to a lesser extent, by his family. He said he felt 'very happy' recommending the agreement because it would save a lot of money in further litigation and would also help the Reid family start their lives over again with money to provide some security. 'As far as we know, they have no other assets. If any other assets did come to light, we would then take proceedings in respect of those,' he said. Flow charts and a chronology provided by Mr Wingfield at a briefing yesterday show how the bribe money has been moved between Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong, Vanuatu, London, Sydney and New Zealand with the help of Mrs Reid, her parents, Reid's sister, Reid's parents as well as accounting and legal experts. A trust company set up in Vanuatu received US$780,000 and was called SAJECA, a name arrived at by taking the first two letters of Reid's three children: Samantha, Jeremy and Cassie. 'What we have concentrated on is to make sure that Mr Reid does not benefit from the fruits of his corruption. 'It is nice to know that Judith Reid has now found God, because certainly up to now she has been distinctly unco-operative,' said Mr Wingfield.