Former top HK prosecutor Warwick Reid tells of his shame over crimes
Ex-prosecutor says his life fell apart after being deported, but enjoys using his legal skills again
Former Hong Kong prosecutions chief Warwick Reid yesterday spoke of the "shame" he feels about his criminal past.
Reid, the most senior legal official ever convicted of corruption in Hong Kong, also said that since his deportation in 1994 his life had been "devastated".
A failed mussel-processing business left him with a huge tax bill; he lost a gym he owned when graft-busters closed him down; and his family was torn apart by a marriage break-up and the suicide of the brother he once claimed had "dobbed him in" to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Such was the extent of his downfall that Reid said he had been forced to start driving buses to make ends meet.
The 65-year-old former acting director of public prosecutions in Hong Kong, who was jailed for taking HK$12.4 million in bribes from people who thought he could influence their prosecutions, said he was not surprised at the vitriol still aimed at him by senior legal figures in the city.
When the Post revealed he was running a legal advocacy business, former colleague Clive Grossman SC said he could not convey the "utter outrage and contempt" the mention of Reid's name evoked.