Full interview: Birmingham City chief Peter Pannu tells of Triad battles
Oct 9 2009 Exclusive Mail interview by Colin Tattum
BLUES’ new finance boss Peter Pannu today revealed how he triumphed over sinister Chinese Triad gangs who tried to frame the former top cop with corruption allegations in Hong Kong.
It happened when Pannu, aged 46, was a senior police inspector investigating serious crimes and in the anti-Triad bureaus.
In his first interview with a British journalist, he told how he and a fellow officer had been acquitted of accepting HK$ 20,000 from notorious Triad boss Andely Chan.
Talking openly last night, Pannu, who has recently been a practising barrister, insisted he had nothing to hide.
He said: “When you are dealing with very, very vicious people, you have to enshrine yourself among them to bring them down.
“Unfortunately, I was set up by these same people I was trying to eradicate.
“I was cleared of all charges. The investigation outcome was an obvious indication of my innocence.
“I resigned from the police when the time was right and trained as a barrister and practised law.
“If there had been any wrong-doing, I wouldn’t have been allowed to become a barrister and prosecute cases.
“There is nothing hanging over my head.
“When you are dealing with Triads back there, you have to understand that it is very tricky and these are dangerous people.”
And Pannu, who joins Blues as vice chairman of executive and financial matters following Carson Yeung’s £81.5 million takeover, insisted that while his history was fascinating, his efforts would now be focused 100 per cent on the football club.
He said: “All this is in the past, historical facts from 16, 17 years ago.
“My concentration is on our work at Birmingham City. Everything else is irrelevant.”
Chan was a Triad boss masterminding a stranglehold on the film and entertainment industry in east Tsim Sha Tsui, the popular tourist shopping district on the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong.
Pannu, who joined the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1985, was accused of accepting the money following an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption into alleged bribery of police.
He and his fellow officer both pleaded not guilty. Pannu was acquitted in 1996 after Chan was murdered at the Macau Grand Prix and another important witness decided not to testify.
