Cheung Chi Keung
Encyclopedia
Cheung Tze-keung was a notorious Hong Kong gangster
also known as "the Big Spender" . He was a kidnapper, robber, arms smuggler and was wanted for murder. He was best known for having masterminded the abduction of Walter Kwok
and Victor Li
, son of Li Ka Shing
.
He was sentenced to death by a court in Guangzhou and was executed by firing squad on 16 December 1998, aged 43.
He acquired the nickname "Big Spender" for his love of lavish living. Cheung created a self-image for himself of a "likeable rogue with a heart of gold", and gave his friends and strangers gifts funded from a crime spree that brought in at least $2 billion.
He was said to be a charming man with a taste for fine food and liquor. He reportedly gave away tens of thousands dollars to a young street painter when in Bangkok
. Just before he was arrested, he spent a month in a luxury hotel in Shenzhen
during which he showered hotel staff with tips. Even in jail, he reportedly asked wardens for bird's nest soup
.
wristwatches. Cheung was arrested in September 1991 and jailed for 18 months for robbing a security van at Kai Tak Airport
, netting HK$167 million. However, he was acquitted and released after appeal in June 1995 when the judge ruled there was no case against Cheung as the evidence was filled with too many inconsistencies.
His associate Yip, however, was sentenced to 41 years in jail.
, son of Li Ka Shing
, and 29 Sept 1997 kidnapped Walter Kwok
, chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties. He reportedly reaped HK$1.38 billion in ransom money from Li Ka-shing, and HK$600 million for Walter Kwok. Cheung admitted he followed Li Ka-shing, then held him hostage in the Li's own house for three days until the ransom was paid. It was believed at the time that these ransoms would merit an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Cheung's kidnappings purportedly caught the personal attention of then PRC Paramount Leader Jiang Zemin
, who took action after a meeting with Li Ka Shing.
Cheung fled to China in January 1998 after failing to kidnap Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan
, in retaliation for the jailing of his associate, Yip Kai-foon. Acting on a tip-off, the police discovered 818 kg of explosives in Sheung Shui
in January 1998 which they attributed to a plan by Cheung to bomb government buildings. Cheung allegedly acquired 960 kg of explosives in 1997 for $200,000 from a man in Macau, the stock was transported to Hong Kong and buried in a deserted container parking area.
Cheung had already fled to Guangdong
province in January 1998 under an assumed name, having allegedly bribed the police there. However, Cheung was arrested in August 1998, and his gang of 35 were rounded up by mainland police. Among his gang members were 17 Hong Kong residents and 14 mainlanders They were tried in connection with a number of crimes including the kidnapping of two SAR tycoons, who remained unnamed in the trial, (some reports suggested one victim was Victor Li
).
It was reported the time of his capture, Cheung planned to kidnap Macau gambling magnate, Stanley Ho
. Cheung is known to have lost at least $200 million in the Ho's Macau casinos.
The Guangzhou Municipal People's Prosecutor formally charged Cheung and his 35 followers with a series of charges relating to "cross-boundary crime including illegal possession, transporting and smuggling explosives and firearms, robbery and kidnapping". The charges, which were denied by Cheung, included the abduction in 1993 for a four million yuan ransom of a Fujian merchant who had only come forward after Cheung's arrest. The trial began on 8 October 1998. It was reported that Cheung made a full confession on the first day of the trial.
The trial was criticised by some human rights observers for its lack of transparency, as Cheung's mother and lawyer were not allowed in the courtroom, and others alleged that the PRC was holding the trial in secrecy to cover up embarrassing links that military officers had sold weaponry to Cheung.
On 16 December 1998, Cheung was convicted and summarily executed in Guangzhou by a firing squad.
of Hong Kong, explicit in the Hong Kong Basic Law
that had been implemented after the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to the People's Republic of China. Grave concerns were expressed by the Bar Association that the Mainland had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory by Hong Kong residents as a matter of Mainland law; the Hong Kong public were concerned that if they commit a crime in Hong Kong, they might have to stand trial in the mainland if arrested there. However, the Chinese Government argued that though the crimes were carried out in Hong Kong, it had been planned in China, so the PRC was entitled to exercise jurisdiction over the case. Under the Chinese Criminal Code, a Chinese national can be tried by a mainland court for crimes committed outside China if the offence warrants imprisonment of three years or more. Officials believed that although a "meagre part" of Cheung's case involved the mainland, it was right he be tried there.
Director of Public Prosecutions
Grenville Cross, said in a letter that the mainland judiciary could not return Hong Kong residents to the SAR before they had been tried for crimes allegedly committed on the mainland. Cheung's lawyer suggested there probably would have been insufficient evidence to convict his client in Hong Kong without victims' statements.
The failure of the victims to report the case to the Hong Kong Police had left them bereft of evidence to request the repatriation of Cheung. Secretary for Security Regina Ip
regretted that the tycoons had reported the abductions to the PRC and not to the Hong Kong authorities. In addition, she mentioned there was no formal cross-border agreement on the transfer of offenders, but said that it would not be unprecedented to do so. Legal experts suggested that Hong Kong courts would not be able to convict in the absence of witness or victims' testimonies or other evidence, even with a full confession, as confessions can be withdrawn. There were some who maintained that the Li and Kwok families could get their revenge on Cheung since a trial in the mainland could guarantee the death penalty, whereas capital punishment is not in force in Hong Kong.
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
also known as "the Big Spender" . He was a kidnapper, robber, arms smuggler and was wanted for murder. He was best known for having masterminded the abduction of Walter Kwok
Walter Kwok
Kwok Ping-sheung, Walter JP is the eldest son of Kwok Tak Seng and Kwong Siu-hing...
and Victor Li
Victor Li
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi is a Hong Kong-based businessman with Canadian citizenship. He is the son of tycoon Li Ka-shing and the brother of Richard Li. Li had a net worth of $730 million CDN in 2006. -Early years:...
, son of Li Ka Shing
Li Ka Shing
Sir Ka-shing Li, GBM, KBE, JP is a Chinese business magnate based in Hong Kong. He is the richest person of East Asian descent in the world and the eleventh richest person in the world with an estimated wealth of US$26.0 billion on 10 March 2011...
.
He was sentenced to death by a court in Guangzhou and was executed by firing squad on 16 December 1998, aged 43.
Biography
Cheung was born in Guangdong province, and his family came to Hong Kong when he was four years old.He acquired the nickname "Big Spender" for his love of lavish living. Cheung created a self-image for himself of a "likeable rogue with a heart of gold", and gave his friends and strangers gifts funded from a crime spree that brought in at least $2 billion.
He was said to be a charming man with a taste for fine food and liquor. He reportedly gave away tens of thousands dollars to a young street painter when in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. Just before he was arrested, he spent a month in a luxury hotel in Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
during which he showered hotel staff with tips. Even in jail, he reportedly asked wardens for bird's nest soup
Bird's nest soup
Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup....
.
Criminal life
Cheung partnered with Yip Kai-foon in a series of armed robberies. In 1990, he raided the Airport where he hauled a HK$30 million consignment of RolexRolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
wristwatches. Cheung was arrested in September 1991 and jailed for 18 months for robbing a security van at Kai Tak Airport
Kai Tak Airport
Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. It was officially known as the Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, when it was closed and replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, 30 km to the west...
, netting HK$167 million. However, he was acquitted and released after appeal in June 1995 when the judge ruled there was no case against Cheung as the evidence was filled with too many inconsistencies.
His associate Yip, however, was sentenced to 41 years in jail.
Kidnappings
In May 1996, he kidnapped Victor Li Tzar-kuoiVictor Li
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi is a Hong Kong-based businessman with Canadian citizenship. He is the son of tycoon Li Ka-shing and the brother of Richard Li. Li had a net worth of $730 million CDN in 2006. -Early years:...
, son of Li Ka Shing
Li Ka Shing
Sir Ka-shing Li, GBM, KBE, JP is a Chinese business magnate based in Hong Kong. He is the richest person of East Asian descent in the world and the eleventh richest person in the world with an estimated wealth of US$26.0 billion on 10 March 2011...
, and 29 Sept 1997 kidnapped Walter Kwok
Walter Kwok
Kwok Ping-sheung, Walter JP is the eldest son of Kwok Tak Seng and Kwong Siu-hing...
, chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties. He reportedly reaped HK$1.38 billion in ransom money from Li Ka-shing, and HK$600 million for Walter Kwok. Cheung admitted he followed Li Ka-shing, then held him hostage in the Li's own house for three days until the ransom was paid. It was believed at the time that these ransoms would merit an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Cheung's kidnappings purportedly caught the personal attention of then PRC Paramount Leader Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, who took action after a meeting with Li Ka Shing.
Cheung fled to China in January 1998 after failing to kidnap Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan
Anson Chan
Anson Maria Elizabeth Chan Fang On-sang GBM GCMG CBE JP was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for Hong Kong Island, succeeding the late legislator Ma Lik....
, in retaliation for the jailing of his associate, Yip Kai-foon. Acting on a tip-off, the police discovered 818 kg of explosives in Sheung Shui
Sheung Shui
Sheung Shui is an area in New Territories, Hong Kong. Sheung Shui Town, a part of this area, is part of the Fanling-Sheung Shui New Town in the North District of Hong Kong. Fanling Town is to its southeast.-History:...
in January 1998 which they attributed to a plan by Cheung to bomb government buildings. Cheung allegedly acquired 960 kg of explosives in 1997 for $200,000 from a man in Macau, the stock was transported to Hong Kong and buried in a deserted container parking area.
Cheung had already fled to Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province in January 1998 under an assumed name, having allegedly bribed the police there. However, Cheung was arrested in August 1998, and his gang of 35 were rounded up by mainland police. Among his gang members were 17 Hong Kong residents and 14 mainlanders They were tried in connection with a number of crimes including the kidnapping of two SAR tycoons, who remained unnamed in the trial, (some reports suggested one victim was Victor Li
Victor Li
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi is a Hong Kong-based businessman with Canadian citizenship. He is the son of tycoon Li Ka-shing and the brother of Richard Li. Li had a net worth of $730 million CDN in 2006. -Early years:...
).
It was reported the time of his capture, Cheung planned to kidnap Macau gambling magnate, Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho, GBM, GLM, GBS, GML, OBE , also known as Ho Hung Sun, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, is an entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macau. Ho is sometimes nicknamed "The King of Gambling", reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held of the Macau gambling industry for 40 years...
. Cheung is known to have lost at least $200 million in the Ho's Macau casinos.
Criminal trial
The trial was held in Guangzhou even though the events occurred in Hong Kong. Cheung's lawyer, and other constitutional experts, lobbied the government for the trial to be transferred to Hong Kong, but they were rejected.The Guangzhou Municipal People's Prosecutor formally charged Cheung and his 35 followers with a series of charges relating to "cross-boundary crime including illegal possession, transporting and smuggling explosives and firearms, robbery and kidnapping". The charges, which were denied by Cheung, included the abduction in 1993 for a four million yuan ransom of a Fujian merchant who had only come forward after Cheung's arrest. The trial began on 8 October 1998. It was reported that Cheung made a full confession on the first day of the trial.
The trial was criticised by some human rights observers for its lack of transparency, as Cheung's mother and lawyer were not allowed in the courtroom, and others alleged that the PRC was holding the trial in secrecy to cover up embarrassing links that military officers had sold weaponry to Cheung.
On 16 December 1998, Cheung was convicted and summarily executed in Guangzhou by a firing squad.
Legal controversies
The trial of a Hong Kong resident in Mainland China engendered a crisis of faith in the judicial independenceJudicial independence
Judicial Independence is the idea that the judiciary needs to be kept away from the other branches of government...
of Hong Kong, explicit in the Hong Kong Basic Law
Hong Kong Basic Law
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, or simply Hong Kong Basic Law, serves as the constitutional document of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China...
that had been implemented after the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty to the People's Republic of China. Grave concerns were expressed by the Bar Association that the Mainland had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory by Hong Kong residents as a matter of Mainland law; the Hong Kong public were concerned that if they commit a crime in Hong Kong, they might have to stand trial in the mainland if arrested there. However, the Chinese Government argued that though the crimes were carried out in Hong Kong, it had been planned in China, so the PRC was entitled to exercise jurisdiction over the case. Under the Chinese Criminal Code, a Chinese national can be tried by a mainland court for crimes committed outside China if the offence warrants imprisonment of three years or more. Officials believed that although a "meagre part" of Cheung's case involved the mainland, it was right he be tried there.
Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
Grenville Cross, said in a letter that the mainland judiciary could not return Hong Kong residents to the SAR before they had been tried for crimes allegedly committed on the mainland. Cheung's lawyer suggested there probably would have been insufficient evidence to convict his client in Hong Kong without victims' statements.
The failure of the victims to report the case to the Hong Kong Police had left them bereft of evidence to request the repatriation of Cheung. Secretary for Security Regina Ip
Regina Ip
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, GBS JP is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , as well as the co-founder and current chairwoman of the New People's Party and Savantas Policy Institute....
regretted that the tycoons had reported the abductions to the PRC and not to the Hong Kong authorities. In addition, she mentioned there was no formal cross-border agreement on the transfer of offenders, but said that it would not be unprecedented to do so. Legal experts suggested that Hong Kong courts would not be able to convict in the absence of witness or victims' testimonies or other evidence, even with a full confession, as confessions can be withdrawn. There were some who maintained that the Li and Kwok families could get their revenge on Cheung since a trial in the mainland could guarantee the death penalty, whereas capital punishment is not in force in Hong Kong.
Cultural influences
Fictionalized accounts of Cheung Chi Keung's kidnapping of the wealthy have been made into movies:- Operation Billionaires (English title) starring Simon YamSimon YamSimon Yam Tat-Wah , born March 19, 1955, is a Hong Kong actor and film producer.-Background:The son of a former police officer of Shangdong heritage, his father was a Hong Kong Royal Police ship captain who was murdered by his colleague....
. - Big Spender(Film) (English title) starring Ray Lui Leung-Wai.