But on Monday, seven years after his death as a fugitive in Taiwan, the Hong Kong government claimed a final victory over the powerful former policeman, wresting control of his HK$140 million estate in an out-of- court settlement with his family.

The announcement marks an end to an era of rampant public graft that led to the creation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1974.

The ICAC first began investigating Hon in 1976 for "assets disproportionate" to his humble salary, which totaled HK$193,852 over a 31-year career with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.

By the time Hon retired in August 1971, he held 49 properties then worth HK$2.12 million, plus HK$1.24 million in investments, HK$703,000 in bank accounts and two Mercedes-Benz cars worth HK$78,911.

His Hong Kong properties included buildings on Belcher Street in Kennedy Town, Humphreys Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui and Fa Yuen and Bute streets in Mong Kok.

Hon, also known by his alias Hon Kwing-shum, or Hon Kwing-sum, moved to Canada shortly after retiring, and evaded authorities for decades before his death in 1999.

In 2000 the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit to recover his assets, frozen by the ICAC. The 30-year case finally ended Monday after Hon's family agreed to return the cars, properties and bank accounts to the government in an out-of-court settlement.

The ICAC refused to comment, but it drew a line under the affair for some of Hong Kong's early graftbusters.

"When we started the investigation, we were still very new," said Alex Tsui Ka-kit, a former assistant director of operations at the ICAC. "We had the money, but we couldn't catch the man ... Now, after all these years, it's good to know that there is a conclusion to the case."

A sergeant in the police, Hon was a powerful figure in the notoriously corrupt force of the 1960s and 1970s.

According to court papers filed in 2000, Hon amassed a fortune through bribes, while he and four other officers were also believed to be leaders of a heroin trade.

Hongkong Standard news reports of the late 1970s chronicle how Hon was arrested at his luxury home in Vancouver in 1976. He was jailed for five days before posting bail.

His extradition trial made headlines in 1976, with as many as 60 Crown witnesses expected to testify.

A Vancouver provincial court dropped the charges, but these were later upheld by Canada's Federal Court of Appeal.

Hon is said to have operated restaurants in Vancouver in the 1970s, as well as owning real estate in Bangkok and Florida.

He also maintained two concubines - both were named in the 2000 High Court writ.

Hon escaped extradition by fleeing to Taipei before a hearing in 1978. "Millionaire sergeant Hon must face trial, but where is he?" wondered one Hongkong Standard headline in January 1978.

The conclusion to Hon's case marks the end of a string of police corruption cases dating from the 1970s. The best known among those was Peter Godber, former chief superintendent of police, who had amassed a HK$4.3 million fortune through bribes by the time he retired in 1973.

Godber fled to Britain, but was arrested and extradited to Hong Kong. After a seven-day trial, he was sentenced to a four-year jail term in 1975. The government recovered HK$400,000 in 1985 after liquidating assets including his Sussex cottage and some bank accounts. In 1994 the government filed a writ to recover corrupt proceeds and interest worth about HK$6.4 million, but it is still working to recover the money.

Retired detective sergeant Lui Lok is another man for whom an arrest warrant had been issued since 1976 for bribery. Civil proceedings began in 1978 and an out-of-court settlement was reached in 1986.

The remaining corrupt law enforcers are police sergeants Ma Man-leung, Tsang Kai-wing and Cheung Wing-shu. Civil proceedings were launched and assets recovered,but the repossession of Hon's assets was far and away the largest of the lot.