BANNED OFFICIAL TIED TO DRUG DEAL

Carl Ching, the Hong Kong basketball official banned from the Sydney
Olympics, was investigated by Australian police in 1987 for his role in
conspiring to launder $2 million.

The money was to be the proceeds of a 30-kilogram heroin importation.

The Agehas learned that Mr Ching came to Sydney in 1987 and was placed
under surveillance by a taskforce of New South Wales and Federal
Police.

The taskforce had been established to investigate Chinese organised
crime, particularly in Sydney.

According to police intelligence, Mr Ching was not involved in the
importation but came to Sydney to launder the money because he knew a
banker in Sydney who could transfer the cash back to Hong Kong.

Mr Ching stayed at the Hilton Hotel with a notorious former Hong Kong
Police officer, Eddie Chan, who had been identified three years earlier
by the United States President's Commission on Organised Crime as a
"major Chinese organised crime figure" in New York.

Mr Ching has also been accused of being involved with the triad
criminal groups, a charge he has always rejected.

Mr Ching, the vice-president of the International Basketball
Association, was last week refused entry to Australia by the
Immigration Department on the grounds of "security and safety".

At a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Mr Ching declared his
innocence and threatened to sue the Federal Government for the
"ridiculous" refusal.

The 57-year-old basketball boss and wealthy businessman revealed he had
commercial property interests in Melbourne and Sydney and said he would
pay $US1 million to anyone who could prove he was involved in criminal
activities. "I want the US Government, I want all the world's
governments to investigate me," he said.

"I told them if you can find anything wrong with me, (if) I am a triad,
(if) I do any illegal business, you can not only put me in jail. I will
kill myself."

The Age has learned that in 1987, the police taskforce discovered that
about 30 kilograms of heroin had been brought into the country and
distributed.

Due to a problem in collecting the proceeds, around $2 million, a Hong
Kong national by the name of Albert Choy Lim Shun flew into Sydney and
booked into the Regent Hotel.

Unknown to Choy, he was under surveillance and he was followed to the
Hilton Hotel where, on August 2, he was observed meeting with Carl
Ching and Eddie Chan.

The taskforce soon learned, via electronic surveillance, that Mr Ching
was to get a 3 per cent commission on the $2 million, but things did
not go according to plan.

Because of some difficulties collecting the cash, Mr Ching received
only $150,000. The Agehas been told Mr Ching "knew a banker in Sydney
who could get money out of Australia" and that the $150,000 was in fact
remitted overseas.

The investigation revealed Mr Ching was upset about not being able to
obtain the full amount as it meant he would get a 3 per cent commission
on the smaller amount, not the $2 million.

Mr Ching left Sydney, and his room at the Hilton was paid for by Mr
Chan.

It is believed a brief of evidence was sent by the taskforce to the
Director of Public Prosecutions recommending criminal charges against
Mr Ching for money laundering, but the DPP declined to support
extradition proceedings.

Instead, he was to be arrested if he ever returned to Australia.

It is not clear whether he did indeed return - he indicated at his
press conference that he had last visited in 1988.

The Ageunderstands that the heroin from the 1987 importation and a
second importation in 1988 was delivered to a triad boss in Sydney,
John Chai Nam-Yung, who used to run an illegal gambling club in Dixon
Street.

Police have identified John Chai Nam-Yung as the leader of the Wo Yee
Tong triad group in Sydney.

He is serving 24 years' jail for his part in a conspiracy which
imported about 152 kilograms of heroin into Australia in 1987.

The joint taskforce investigation, Operation Illiad, went for several
years and it is believed a synopsis of its findings - including
references to Mr Ching - was sent to the Immigration Department and
placed on a data base.

Mr Ching is the president of the United World China Association which
first met in 1992. The South China Morning Post reported at the time
that officers from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau monitored the
meeting and interviewed up to eight men.

Mr Ching was also banned from visiting Canada in 1994.