Chapter 227: Putting Power in a Cage

Inside the Mercedes-Benz Pullman bulletproof car, Landlord Association member Sima Xiang reported to Chen Jiajun: "Sir Chen, following your instructions, we have already absorbed a full 20 million shares of Kowloon Motor Bus and 10 million shares of China Motor Bus. May I ask if we should continue?"

"Continue. As long as someone is selling, we buy," Chen Jiajun said with a smile.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption's investigation into Kowloon Motor Bus and Zhongba Group had long been within his expectations, which was why he had instructed the Landlord Association to take action early on.

With one round trip, Chen Jiajun didn't have to spend a single cent, yet he could still earn a large sum of money.

"Understood."

After dropping off Sima Xiang at the road section ahead, the motorcade arrived at 16 Harcourt Road, Admiralty, the Far East Finance Centre.

The entire building stood forty-one stories tall, clad entirely in a gold glass curtain wall; under the sunlight, it looked like a giant gold bar standing on Hong Kong Island.

The motorcade pulled into the underground parking garage. In the short process of reaching the lobby on the first floor, Chen Jiajun and his party encountered three inquiries, and only after receiving feedback from the other side confirming an appointment with an owner in the building and registering the identities of the two, were they officially allowed to pass.

The Far East Finance Centre housed consulates of five countries and over thirty Fortune 500 companies; for anyone not working in the building, an appointment system was strictly enforced for entry.

The elevator opened on the twenty-second floor. A young man in a crisp suit was already waiting outside the elevator, with a string of English text, "Temple Chambers," on the landscape wall behind him.

Tianbo Law Firm was the destination of Chen Jiajun's trip.

Seeing them appear, the young man at the entrance smiled and said, "Hello, Sir Chen."

"He is the Assistant Lawyer to the Founder of Tianbo Law Firm, Queen's Counsel Owens—Li Junxuan," Huang Dawen introduced.

Chen Jiajun nodded slightly.

"Very pleased to meet you, Sir Chen. Please follow me, all of you."

Li Junxuan made a gesture of invitation and led the way.

Passing through a spacious lobby, Li Junxuan swiped an ID card to open a door: "The consultation service you booked is in the VIP room; it is soundproof and independent."

Chen Jiajun stepped through the door. The interior was decorated very minimally. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was the lush green of Admiralty Garden, and a small statue of the goddess of justice, Themis, was placed on the guest table.

"Please sit wherever you like. What would you like to drink?" Li Junxuan asked Chen Jiajun with a smile.

Chen Jiajun sat on the sofa and said, "Tea, thank you."

"Very well, Mr. Owens will be here shortly." Li Junxuan helped Chen Jiajun and Huang Dawen prepare tea at a bar in the corner of the room.

Five minutes later, the door was opened from the outside, and an elderly Gweilo walked in. Chen Jiajun and Huang Dawen stood up and took the initiative to speak: "Mr. Owens, hello."

"Hello, you must be the famous Sir Chen of Hong Kong, a vibrant young man." The old man was tall with a high bridge of his nose, and he shook hands with Chen Jiajun with a smile:

"How is your English? My Chinese is not very good. If possible, I hope to complete this consultation in English."

"Normal communication is no problem," Chen Jiajun replied to Owens in English.

For ordinary cases, Huang Dawen Law Firm could handle them.

For tricky cases, one had to find the top-ranked law firms.

Although Tianbo Law Firm was not famous in name, it was actually the number one star-rated law firm in all of Hong Kong. Since its establishment, they had handled countless representative cases.

Within Tianbo Law Firm, there were three Queen's Counsels who had served as Chief Justices of the High Court and Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, and five or six others who had served as permanent judges. The next Secretary for Justice was currently a Chief Member of Tianbo Law Firm.

Other practicing barristers also held positions such as Chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Council, Chairman of the Hospital Authority, Chairman of the Bar Association, and so on.

This was the reason why Chen Jiajun had left the Independent Commission Against Corruption and come here.

Hearing Chen Jiajun's fluent spoken English, Queen's Counsel Owens nodded with satisfaction: "Let us skip some trivial pleasantries and get straight to the point."

"Sir Owens, then let's keep it brief. Regarding the infringement case I previously entrusted Lawyer Huang Dawen to hand over to your firm, do you already have a lead?"

Chen Jiajun lit a cigar and also went straight to the topic.

Because the copyright infringement case was the first of its kind in Hong Kong, Huang Dawen, as the Legal Advisor to Guojun Group, had already represented Guojun Garment Factory in talks with Tianbo Law Firm once before.

Owens took a thick stack of documents from Li Junxuan's side and said briefly: "No problem. Although Hong Kong does not have a copyright law, England does."

As he spoke, Owens took out some relevant photos from the documents and said: "However, the photos you secretly took cannot be used as notarized evidence in court, but rest assured, we will contact Customs."

"I have a witness in their company; Customs can contact my informant." Chen Jiajun nodded, took a sip of green tea, and set down the teacup.

In Hong Kong, as long as one was in the garment industry, one had to deal with Guojun Garment Factory.

The reason was simple: the current Guojun Garment Factory was truly too powerful.

To further reduce the group's operating costs, Chen Jiajun had successively created fabric mills, textile mills, and zipper factories in Butterfly Bay and Tsuen Wan, responsible for supplying Guojun Garment Factory and the A-Goods factories in the New Territories.

As they continued to operate, these few factories were currently ranked in the top five among their peers in Hong Kong.

The total output value of Guojun Garment Factory had already surpassed the leading enterprise of Hong Kong's garment industry—Lai Sun Group.

The Headman of Lai Sun Group, Ling Baixin, also known as the widely praised "King of Africa," could rank in the top ten on the Hong Kong rich list. Known in the underworld as "Uncle Xin," he owned his own mercenary group in Africa, and his business stretched from South Africa to Taiwan.

Even such a big figure sometimes had to come to Guojun Garment Factory to make purchases.

Let alone Feilao Li's Giordano?

Furthermore, as early as a month ago, Chen Jiajun had already sent an Undercover to Feilao Li's Giordano company.

Upon hearing this, Owens nodded, put down the folder, and said: "That's even better. Let us start talking about the second case, Miss Zhao Yazhi's defamation case. Actually, Lawyer Huang Dawen could solve this CASE..."

Chen Jiajun interrupted Owens directly and continued: "Sir Owens, originally I did indeed want to let Huang Dawen handle this CASE, but I have had some new ideas recently.

As public figures, Hong Kong artists have long been harassed by these messy media outlets. Our Hongxing Film is currently the industry leader, and we want to take this as an opportunity to establish the Hong Kong Artists Association and, in the name of the Hong Kong Artists Association, launch a class-action lawsuit against these newspaper companies.

I want to cleanse the bad atmosphere of the entire media industry and provide a platform for artists to speak out."

Chen Jiajun's tone was full of righteousness.

Before Owens could speak, Chen Jiajun continued: "In addition, as the Hong Kong Artists Association is a semi-official association, we will establish our foundation, and we would like to invite Sir Owens and your colleagues to join our association and speak up for the artists of Hong Kong."

Owens' smile faded. He picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, pushed up his glasses, and said: "Sir Chen, I think I can congratulate you in advance for winning this lawsuit now.

Li Junxuan, help me cancel the Department of Justice banquet tonight. Also, help me book a high-end restaurant in Central; I would like to have dinner with Sir Chen."

"Sir Owens, why not come to my home as a guest? There are several chefs in my Zhuangyuan who specialize in French and Italian cuisine. I would like to invite you and your colleagues to provide some guidance tonight."

Chen Jiajun issued the invitation.

Owens smiled and snapped his fingers: "Then I shall not decline."

Chen Jiajun continued immediately: "In addition, there is a third case. I presume you have heard about me being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption today."

"I have heard. May I ask what I can do to help you?" Owens' smile grew even wider.

Chen Jiajun said: "The Independent Commission Against Corruption wants to use the large-scale procurement cases of the Bar Group and the Zhongba Group to launch slander and rumors against me."

"Last year, the Zhongba Group and the Bar Group purchased a total of 3,000 Tesla T1 double-decker buses from my Tesla Group."

"I have heard a little about it," Owens nodded.

Chen Jiajun flicked the ash from his cigarette and said: "In fact, this is completely groundless. Our Tesla Group has an excellent international reputation. Recently, we received orders for 2,000 buses from the Lion City, North America, and Taiwan regions, with a total order value of 2 billion."

"But due to the brutal law enforcement of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, irreversible reputational and economic damage has now been caused to the Bar Group and Zhongba Group that I own."

"Yesterday, the stock price of our Bar Group was 40 dollars, and the stock price of the Zhongba Group was 60 dollars; now they have dropped to 20 dollars and 30 dollars respectively. Sir Owens, what is your advice?"

After hearing this question from Chen Jiajun, Owens considered it for a moment and said: "Understood. The Bar Group, the Zhongba Group, and the Tesla Group can initiate a lawsuit against the Independent Commission Against Corruption, suing the Independent Commission Against Corruption for abuse of law enforcement, for the economic and reputational losses caused to the three groups."

"I am very clear that it is impossible for them to compensate for our specific losses, but I think they need a lesson. We must cage power," Chen Jiajun said coldly.

Owens nodded in approval, gave a thumbs up, and said: "I really like that phrase, 'cage power.' Our Tianbo Law Firm will take this case."

(End of this chapter)