Silence loud on police raids over PCCW's failed privatisation

In the week before the Lunar New Year, police raided the home of Richard Li Tzar-kai and a number of other residences and businesses connected with the failed HK$15.93 billion attempt to privatise PCCW last year.

Yet three weeks since a number of warrants were executed across the city, police have not even confirmed that any criminal investigation is under way.

Police have declined to say how many raids, if any, were carried out, who was questioned, and the exact dates of any searches or interviews.

Even requests for off-the-record confirmations of whether an investigation is in progress have been met with either silence or the standard reply when police do not want to say anything: 'Police will not comment on individual cases.'

A number of non-law-enforcement sources have said that police either raided or approached a number of companies suspected of being involved in the now-suspended privatisation.

The companies included Fortis Insurance Co (Asia), which was accused of distributing 500,000 shares of PCCW to agents and friends in the weeks leading up to the shareholders' vote on February 4 last year in order to get enough votes to force the privatisation through.

High-profile businessman Francis Yuen Tin-fan, a deputy chairman of Li's bidding vehicle, Pacific Century Regional Developments (PCRD), and a former Fortis senior executive, and former Fortis regional director Inneo Lam Hau-wah have also been asked by officers of the Commercial Crime Bureau to discuss matters surrounding the privatisation.