The Allegation: A John Mackworth novel

by Tony Davies

  There was also the issue of the job offer from Smith’s. He had been approached a few weeks earlier regarding taking over a large investigation agency in Singapore. They had co salary on offer was phenomenal and he had been promised full autonomy by the USA based owners. The firm dealt mainly with corporate fraud and had a blue chip roster of clients. The work would be interesting and with some regional travel he would make it back to Hong Kong regularly.

  He had discussed the position with Lindy, but he hadn’t got the reaction he had hoped for. She could see the merits of him taking the position and felt having to work within certain boundaries would be a good thing for him. However, she wouldn’t commit to moving to Singapore to continue their professional relationship. The first step was for him to decide if he was taking the job. Then she would decide if she would join him.

  Being decisive in business and in one’s personal life are two very different things. Mack readily acknowledged he was poor at making personal decisions. He had a tendency to put things off in the hope a solution would present itself. That was the way he approached the Smith’s job offer. If he didn’t decide, they would withdraw the offer and then the decision would be made for him.

  He wasn’t opposed to relocating to Singapore. He liked the city and knew he would enjoy the work. He would miss Hong Kong and his friends there, but life moves on. He was used to being his own boss and he was concerned that the Americans were only paying lip service to his need for autonomy. He would only go if Lindy agreed to join him and he wondered whether that was for professional or personal reasons. He really did need to sort out his feelings for her.

  He had a few more weeks to deicide. They wanted him to visit the Singapore the following month and perhaps something would happen in the meantime. In any event, that was a decision to be made later.

  He got up and walked slowly towards the tram stop. It was time to get back to the office. As he did so, a young Chinese woman at the far side of the square stood up from her seat and looked around the square. She then nodded to a similarly dressed woman who was sat close by and they began walking separately towards the tram stop.

  Chapter six

  Getting started

  The following morning Lindy walked into Mack’s office and sat opposite him. Mack had never been a believer in big offices and the limited space he sat in reflected this. His room had a desk, three chairs and a filing cabinet and whilst it faced Connaught Road, the busy street below was not a concern as he was on the 27th floor. Since clients never went into his room he hadn’t seen any point in buying expensive furniture. A trip to Ikea hadn’t stretched his limited resources too far.

  There was one compromise though. At Lindy’s suggestion they had set up a boardroom, which could accommodate up to ten people and was nicely appointed with more expensive items. It certainly wasn’t in the same league as Westminster, but it served its purpose as a meeting room.

  Mack saw Lindy was having one of her more sensible fashion days. She was wearing a pale lilac jump suit with a wide black belt and large round gold earrings, which contrasted nicely with her angular face. Her long black hair was again tied back in a ponytail. It wasn’t exactly a corporate look, but it was quite conservative compared to some of the outfits she had worn in the past. His own appearance rarely changed. Most people called it bland.

  Ah Leng had put a plate of chocolate biscuits on his desk and he was grateful he sometimes let his heart rule his head. He liked chocolate biscuits. Ah Leng was sixty something and spoke no English. She had mysteriously appeared in the office one day with Lindy’s only explanation being that they needed a messenger and an office ‘amah’. Mack suspected that she was related to Lindy, but he had never enquired and since the monthly sum they gave her was hardly likely to send the business bankrupt, he decided that some things were best left as they were.

  Lindy seemed in an excitable mood when she said “You remember I mentioned Weston had dated Susan Yip, well the reporter who scooped it was Stephen Chan’s sister. Some coincidence, eh?”

  Mack didn’t believe in coincidences. “Tell me more?” was his response. There was always more with Lindy.

  “The file we got from Westminster showed Stephen’s sister’s name as Debbie. I was checking the article about Weston and his girlfriend and saw the names were the same. Sure enough, they are siblings.

  “You want to hear the rest?” She knew the answer and didn’t wait for him to respond. “Stephen works closely with Elliot Wu, who is in effect his boss in that he nominally reports to him. I checked Wu out and he has been with Westminster for five years and is not involved in the Paradise Cove project. His assistant told me all that, but more on her shortly.

  “Apart from what is in his file, Stephen has no criminal convictions, no outstanding parking tickets, which is not surprising since he doesn’t own a car, has a clear credit rating and doesn’t own any property. In his younger days he was an accomplished tennis player and actually made the HK development squad when he was fifteen. He went to Hong Kong U, studied commerce followed by an MBA in Toronto. He was with a couple of investment banks before a headhunter latched on to him and got him a position at Westminster.

  “His last quarterly review indicated he is a decent performer. Not exactly a world beater, but good enough to keep his job, which means he must be good since they have a reputation for culling the weakest. He was on leave on the 27th so he could have been in Macau that day. I am waiting to hear back from our Immigration contacts in Macau to see if that is the case.

  “Bent’s assistant is Ms Martin, who talks like a typical upper class Brit. She called earlier to say that Stephen is still not at work. She also told me she is our first point of contact at Westminster. I am to deal with her and she will pass on all requests to Bent. Very bossy, I am sure you will get on very well with her”. She smiled and waited for his response.

  Mack frowned and reached for his coffee. “Bent is my contact, but it works both ways. She can deal with you and not me. If I need to go direct on anything, or you get stonewalled, I will step in. Ring and check if Stephen is at home. If you don’t get an answer by lunchtime ask Ping to make a visit, Pizza delivery or something. I want to know if he really has the flu or if there is something more to it.

  “Next, ring Johnson Fu. He is still at the Excelsior. Say I said hello and that Kitty has great taste. Don’t worry, he will get the joke. Ask him to find out who was booked into the room on the 27th.”

  Mack had briefly dated a pretty Chinese girl called Kitty Wong, but she had quickly realized he was not interested in a long-term relationship. She had moved on and shortly afterwards had met Johnson, an ex-colleague of his. They had now been married five years and he and Johnson often joked when they met that the better man had won the girl.

  “Check whether Stephen’s father ever worked in the same department as Lee Wai. It may be a long shot, but you never know, that may be how Stephen and Lee met. You can also check club memberships etc. to see if there is any link.”

  Lindy nodded her head and kept writing. It was going to be a busy few days.

  “Take a good look at Paul Bent. I briefly spoke to Mike Blair, an old friend of mine from Special Branch, last night and I asked him if he knew him. As it happens, he did. Bent was with the UK government in one of those ‘If I tell you what I do I will have to kill you’ departments. Mike wouldn’t say much about him, only that he is a very good operator and doesn’t take prisoners. He now handles security and intelligence for Westminster, whatever that means and Mike couldn’t elaborate on that. Something interesting though, rumor has it he left the UK under a cloud but Mike didn’t have any details. See what you can find out.

  “As for Lee Wai, I want a full profile on him. Also, see if you can find out if he was in Hong Kong on that day. One of our contacts in government might be able to help with that. But be careful, I don’t want it public knowledge that we are looking at him.”

  He drank his coffee slowly. The weather bureau had forecast rain
for that evening, which probably meant it wouldn’t rain for another week. He had little faith in government run institutions, especially when it came to forecasting of any description.

  He put his cup down and reached across for the folder marked John Jones. He wanted to read Stephen’s profile himself and whilst the file contained little information at this stage, it would grow steadily over the course of the case. Lindy was a great believer in a paperless office, but Mack insisted on keeping a hard copy of everything. Old habits die hard. He scanned it quickly and saw that the terms of business had already been signed by Westminster. He looked up and declared “They are certainly efficient getting that back to us so quickly.”

  Lind smiled and sighed “Oh yes, they are efficient. Let’s hope they are like that when it comes to paying us on time. Oh by the way, I added on twenty per cent to our standard rate. I knew you would never think of that so I took the initiative. Like a good Hong Kong girl looking after her boss’s money. I hope you don’t mind?” She pouted and waited expectantly for him to reply.

  Mack didn’t take the bait and instead smiled back at her “Anything else we need to go over?”

  “Not really, I will get on with this stuff and let’s talk later.” She got up and as she left the room she turned and said “Oh by the way I lied, I increased it by thirty per cent.” Before Mack could respond she closed the door and left him alone with his Ikea furniture.

  Chapter seven

  The workings of government

  The Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Government is nominally headed by a political appointee, but its day-to-day activities are managed by two Permanent Secretaries who are both highly experienced civil servants. One of the bureau’s departments is the Planning and Lands Branch, which is responsible for formulating, monitoring and reviewing land use within Hong Kong. This branch takes action against unauthorized land use and its approval is necessary before any ‘change of use’ or major development can take place. The approval of the Environmental Protection Bureau is also required for most developments and this is often the most difficult to secure.

  Westminster’s Paradise Cove project was immediately recognized as a political ‘hot potato’ and the bureaucrats quickly kicked it up to the Legislative Council to sort out. It was obvious some input from the executive side of government would be required so the preliminary opinions of the various departments were included with the proposal.

  The project had received a mixed response. Few were prepared to jump conclusively one way or the other and wanted to see how the wind prevailed before declaring their hand. The heads of the Finance and Employment Bureaus were broadly in favor of it and could see the hugely positive impact it would have on the economy. Others felt that letting a mainland developer take the lead would set a dangerous precedent.

  The general consensus was that if the project went ahead at all, government should sell only enough land to accommodate the initial phases of the development. Additional land would then be offered to the developer in phases over the next five to ten years as and when it was required. This would allow government to secure maximum value for the land.

  The Environmental Protection Bureau’s position on the matter was quite simple and came as no surprise to anyone. The development should not go ahead in any form whatsoever.

  Numerous informal meetings were held to arrive at a consensus between bureau heads. To the surprise of no‐one, a decision that satisfied everyone could not be reached. The prospect of a public spat between bureaus was to be avoided at all costs. Big brother across the border wanted the development to go ahead, but more importantly it wanted a politically stable Hong Kong. In­fighting between government bureaus would not help this. If the development were to go ahead, an innovative approach would be needed.

  Hong Kong has always been known for its ‘can do’ approach and is regarded as one of the easiest places in the world to do business. The government was not going to allow its own bureaucracy to derail the project and show the world it had lost its ability to make things happen. It also wanted to keep ‘big brother’ across the border happy.

  The government’s solution was to by-pass all the government departments involved in the process. It decided to appoint an ‘Independent Party’ who would consider all the merits of the application, including economic and environmental issues and submit a binding recommendation to the Chief Executive and the Executive Council. This meant that whilst the views of the individual bureaus would be heard and considered, they would not have the right to veto the application. The decision to approve or reject the application would rest with the ‘Independent Party’ alone and government could absolve itself of any blame. Whilst perfectly legal, its solution was viewed by some as an immoral way of circumventing existing land use legislation.

  Rather than announce the creation of the post and allow time for speculation to grow as to who should fill it, the government made the announcements simultaneously. The government felt that someone from the private sector, or an elected official, would not have the necessary experience in dealing with the various government departments and would be subject to too much outside influence. The Independent Party should therefore come from the executive side of government.

  Of course, it had no intention of appointing an independently minded judge who may have ruled against the application. It therefore expanded the brief to include negotiating the terms of the purchase with Westminster, which ruled out an appointment from the judiciary on the grounds of lack of relevant financial experience.

  With that decision made, it came down to appointing a very senior and experienced civil servant, someone with a sound reputation for integrity and a track record of negotiating difficult infra‐structure projects involving a multitude of vested interests. One candidate stood out. His name was Lee Wai.

  Lee Wai had worked for government since leaving university over thirty years earlier. He had enjoyed an impressive career, having worked in various departments including planning and finance. Now a Permanent Secretary, he had been heavily involved in the negotiations for the Hong Kong to Macau Expressway and had acquitted himself well. He had just returned from extended medical leave after suffering a mild heart attack and was looking forward to his next assignment. Many questioned whether he was capable of returning to the front line of government and even some of his closest friends had suggested he take early retirement on health grounds.

  Lee Wai had no intention of retiring and firmly believed he still had much to achieve in government. Whilst in the eyes of the environmentalists he was not an ideal appointment, to others he was a respected figure who knew how to navigate the treacherous waters of inter‐department politics.

  At first he had been reluctant to take the post as he knew it was a political minefield. He also knew he wouldn’t be forced to take it. Too much pressure on him would be seen as an attempt by government to have their own man in place with a mandate to rubber stamp it.

  The truth was that whilst he could, in theory, recommended whatever he felt was appropriate he knew he would be under enormous pressure to approve it. With that as a given, he had no doubt his real task was to ensure government got the best deal it could from Westminster.

  Over the course of several days a number of his colleagues had discreetly pointed out that he had little choice but to accept the post. To turn down such a high profile position was career suicide. You had to be one of the team to thrive in government and you didn’t demonstrate that by turning down such an appointment. The only option was to take it on, compile a compelling argument why the development should go ahead, allay the fears of the environmentalists, ensure the Mui Wo residents were not seen as victims and negotiate a highly favorable agreement with Westminster. He also had to be home in time for dinner once in a while, or so he liked to joke to himself.

  When he formally accepted the position he felt a sense of relief. At least a decision had been made and he could get on with it. He had expected to be given at least eighteen mont
hs to address all the relevant issues and submit his recommendation. He was told it was required within half that time. His first task was to select his team, or ‘task force’ as it was called in government circles. He selected several colleagues he had worked with on the Expressway project and some from the government’s finance and legal departments. The next tasks were to review the preliminary application and then formally seek the views of the government departments that would normally have been directly involved in the process. All possible grounds for objection would have to be addressed and overcome.

  He had a feeling the negotiations with Westminster would be lengthy and, whilst he accepted the tight time frame, he certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for the developer.

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