IT is not listed on the stock market. Its number cannot be found in any telephone directory. Yet it has more people on its books than the Hongkong Bank, and charges considerably higher interest rates. Its achievements read like a classic Hong Kong success story.
From humble beginnings, it made hundreds of millions of dollars every year from its portfolio of business interests. Its connections are second to none, with representatives in the government, police, immigration department, legal profession and the financial and business communities.Its name stands for New Righteousness and Peace. Most people in Hong Kong would beg to differ.
It is the Sun Yee On, which has emerged as the most organised, wealthy and efficient triad society in town. The organisation has become a criminal octopus, with tentacles that reach into almost every part of Hong Kong life.But it is the Sun Yee On's expansion into China that has accelerated its criminal ascendancy in the territory.
It is important to remember that the Chinese courted the Sun Yee On for talks, not the other way round. When a spokesman for the Public Security Bureau in China made the infamous comment 'some triads being good patriots', he was referring to the Sun Yee On. Nearly 60,000-strong, the Sun Yee On membership list includes high society figures, show-business personalities and film stars.
Senior office bearers have access to huge amounts of cash, live in luxury apartments, drive top of the range cars, travel in style, stay at five-star hotels, and dress in the most expensive clothes. Many have gone respectable. They have legitimate businesses and deal in property, entertainment, foreign exchange, films and the video industry - commercial ventures which are profitable in their own right and which can also be used to launder dirty money through an intricate network of local and overseas bank accounts.
It is interesting to note that the Sun Yee On is estimated to have lost millions in the BCC bank closure.The Sun Yee On's sophistication is such that police believe the society provides medical schemes, pensions, family benefits and insurance schemes for valued members. At senior level, T-shirts and jeans have been replaced by collars and ties and the traditional triad weapons of choppers and knives by accountants, calculators and forex deals.