Chapter 416 Silent Contest

When the Independent Commission Against Corruption officially entered the Carrian Group to launch an investigation on November 11, all parties that had previously had any involvement with the company began to tense up, fearing that trouble would come to them.

The fall of Jianing is bound to create a huge wave in Hong Kong. Most obviously, it will deal another heavy blow to Hong Kong's financial and stock markets, which are already in a state of distress.

Many banks, trust companies, and financial companies have launched self-inspections, which has been reflected in the stock market, with bank and financial stocks naturally plummeting as well.

On the social level, before the Hong Kong stock market reached its lowest point, there were already three people committing suicide by jumping off buildings due to suspected investment failures.

Hong Kong people are no longer surprised by people jumping off buildings during the stock market crash, but these suicides were exposed by the media because of the Carrian Group case, which immediately attracted more bystanders who had nothing to do with Carrian to join in the attention and discussion.

When Fang Hexuan received the news from the Intelligence Office, even those housewives who liked to hang out together started to curse Chen Songqing and the Carrian Group. It was obvious that this case had attracted the attention of the whole of Hong Kong.

He was a little nervous, so he called the people from the investment, finance, and legal teams to the conference room to reiterate the issue of confidentiality and simulate how to deal with the possible investigation by Lian Ji.

In addition, he also hoped that Chen Songqing would really listen to his advice, keep a low profile, and hide in a place where British and American forces could not reach. Otherwise, if he was eventually caught and brought back to Hong Kong, he would be in trouble.

Although generally speaking he did not actually embezzle Jianing's assets, at most he purchased them at a low price through insider trading, but once it is discovered, he will not be able to escape legal prosecution, and his reputation will definitely be affected. At the very least, there will always be people who mock him for deliberately taking advantage of Jianing despite having a net worth of tens of billions.

Due to the high level of attention from above and the strong calls from society for getting to the bottom of the matter, the ICAC has made every effort in its investigation into the Carrian Group.

The entire investigation team involved hundreds of people, and each agent worked overtime to piece together the details of the truth bit by bit from tons of financial reports, work reports, business materials, management files and other documents.

Although ICAC detectives are not police officers, the job requirements are very strict, and a high level of education and a clean background are the most basic conditions.

Although these people all wear suits and ties and look like ordinary white-collar workers, they can be investigated by anyone except the current Governor of Hong Kong. Their power is terrifyingly great.

Anyone in the Jianing Group who is targeted by them is afraid, so this investigation will probably not encounter any obstacles except that it will take a long time.

On the fourth day of the investigation, the ICAC noticed suspicious aspects in several asset transactions between former chairman Chan Song-ching and current Hong Kong richest man Fong Hok-hin.

They originally planned not to make any announcement, but to continue investigating to the end to see if they could clarify the doubts.

However, as the saying goes, there is no wall that is impenetrable. There are factions within the ICAC, and some people have close ties with other departments of the Hong Kong government.

For example, the Hong Kong Police’s “Integrity Unit” is an extremely important but mysterious department that is deliberately rarely mentioned.

Its English name is Special Branch, abbreviated as SB. Agents of the Integrity Branch will call themselves SB when they need to identify themselves.

Fortunately, this was not the Internet age, otherwise it would have been a very embarrassing thing.

When ordinary citizens or ordinary police officers in Hong Kong encounter an Integrity Department detective who reveals his identity, their first reaction is to stay away from him.

Because before the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Integrity Unit was the most mysterious and powerful law enforcement unit in Hong Kong.

But strictly speaking, the Hong Kong Police Integrity Department is not a law enforcement unit, but a branch of the British MI5 in Hong Kong. It is an intelligence department. Like other British colonies, its role is to assist the governor in monitoring and controlling the colony's every move.

Its functions are more comprehensive than those of the Guoan Department in the mainland, and its power is naturally stronger.

Although it usually does not show its presence and seems to be non-existent, once any force that it cannot control or does not like appears in Hong Kong, it will set up strict surveillance.

Take Fang Hexuan for example. In fact, when he suddenly emerged in Hong Kong at the age of 18, he attracted the attention of the Integrity Department. Two years later, he made tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, which made the department specially arrange personnel to investigate all the operational details of his investment in gold futures.

For these people, Fang Hexuan is a variable and an unstable factor. His sudden appearance and outbreak will definitely destroy the original social ecological balance.

After that, Fang Hexuan's visit to the mainland to visit relatives and investigate, as well as his investment in building a factory in Shenzhen, deepened the doubts and concerns of the people in the Integrity Department.

The peak of suspicion was when he launched a surprise acquisition of the British trading company Hutchison Whampoa. If it weren't for Murray MacLehose's intervention, these detectives might have really launched a formal investigation into Fang Hexuan.

Of course, Fang Hexuan himself was not aware of these things, but he didn't need to guess to realize that he might have been on their list.

Fortunately, Mr. Fang knew the principle of keeping a low profile and was willing to maintain good relations with the two governors of Hong Kong, which relieved the pressure on himself.

However, although the Hong Kong Police Integrity Department has not taken any action against him, it does not mean that these people have given up monitoring Fang Hexuan.

They would not pay attention to Mr. Fang's every move all the time, but the people in the Integrity Department were particularly sensitive to any major events related to him.

Now, when the ICAC discovered that Fang Hexuan might be involved in the Carrian scandal, the most excited ones were not the ICAC themselves, but the Integrity Department of the Hong Kong Police, which had power equivalent to theirs.

Fang Hexuan didn't know that he was being targeted, but even if he knew, he wouldn't get flustered or panic.

He believed that so far, all his actions and behaviors had not obviously endangered the rule of the British Empire over its colony of Hong Kong.

Therefore, even if the Ministry of Integrity had doubts about him, at most they would investigate him and would not really do anything to him.

After all, with his current position, anyone who touches him has to think twice before doing anything.

Besides, he is not without a plan to deal with it.

As early as three years ago, he secretly arranged for some people to enter the Hong Kong police and bribed several senior officials. His purpose was not to tip off himself at the critical moment.

Moreover, he also believed that the mainland had secretly laid out plans within the British Hong Kong government, and if there was any sign of trouble, he would eventually receive the news.

In short, even if Fang Hexuan traveled through time and space to this time, he had no intention of licking foreigners. For the sake of his future career, he would do it even if it meant confronting Britain and the United States.

······
(End of this chapter)