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Jun Mai

The mystery over a secretive “central special investigation unit” that Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee claimed was behind his detention on the mainland deepened on Monday when officials said they had never heard of such a body.
Experts familiar with the Communist Party’s operations said such units were often deployed in the Cultural Revolution, and similar ones were still used today for secret investigations.
Lam, who was taken away in Shenzhen by unidentified people, said last month that officers investigating him were part of such a unit.
If Lam’s claim is true it would mean the investigation reported directly to the party’s top leadership, and Beijing deemed his case important enough to form an­
ad hoc and temporary team.
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Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Monday that he had not heard of such a unit, echoing comments by Wang Guangya, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
“The title of ‘central investigation unit’ is very strange … It’s not an institute defined by the law,” Wang said. “I’ve never heard of it.”
The title of ‘central investigation unit’ is very strange … It’s not an institute defined by the law
Wang Guangya, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office
A former cadre who worked at a high-level office in the party said such units were ad hoc and temporary teams formed to investigate top-priority cases and report directly to the party’s leadership.
“They were all disbanded after the Cultural Revolution and all the files were sent to the Central ­Organisation Department,” the former cadre said.
However, similar units were formed from time to time, including in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown to lead a ­nationwide investigation into people deemed to be behind the protests, the cadre said.
“[Lam’s case] might [also] have been handled by lower-level ­departments like the Ministry of Public Security or national security agencies. They sometimes call themselves special investigation units, too,” the source said.
For full coverage on the Hong Kong bookseller disappearances
Chen Daoyin, an associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said even though the units were less common now, their secretive ways reflected the party’s operational approach since 2012.
The practice largely disappeared after the start of the reform and opening up era, but it’s ­impossible that the party has completely abandoned such methods
Chen Daoyin, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law
The investigations into disgraced former security tsar Zhou Yongkang and former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai, were both reportedly handled by special investigation groups long before the cases were handed over to prosecutors.
“The practice largely disappeared after the start of the reform and opening up era, but it’s ­impossible that the party has completely abandoned such methods,” he said.
Chen said the alleged plan by Lam’s bookstore to publish a book about the top leadership would be seen as a serious challenge to party rule. “Beijing would see it as an attempt to tarnish the image of President Xi Jinping. They have tried really hard to burnish the image of Xi and his family,” Chen said. “It’s a matter of political legitimacy for them.”


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Formerly detained Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee (right) says mainland officers investigating him were part of a ‘central special investigation unit’. Photo: EPA

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