Family calls for inquiry into father’s death

11:23am Thursday 22nd March 2007

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THE sister of a bank employee who threw himself to his death from the fifth storey of an Abbey National branch three years ago has launched a campaign to get answers about her brother's death.

Father-of-two Richard Chang killed himself shortly after a meeting in which he was accused of writing letters, sent to senior management, that alleged corruption within the bank.

Mr Chang's family say that information surrounding the death has been kept from them and believe they are being denied answers to the reasons why Mr Chang died.

The Ealing Times went to talk to Mr Chang's younger sister Valerie as she collected signatures for the campaign on the streets of Chinatown on Sunday.

She said: "My brother was a hard-working family man. He was a devoted father and he had a family to look after.

"There are a lot of questions that haven't been answered. We just want to know the truth.

"We are just ordinary people trying to find out the truth. But this is important for everybody.

"This could be your brother, or your cousin or your father."

Risk analyst Mr Chang was due to start a new, better paid job and was days away from a holiday in New York to watch his son singing in a choir.

An inquest into his death, which returned a verdict of suicide, restricted the information made available in court.

An employment action against Abbey National on the grounds of race discrimination and breach of human rights has been dismissed on the grounds that it is not in the public interest.

But Councillor Edmond Yeo (Con, Perivale), who has been campaigning with the family, says an inquiry into Mr Chang's death is crucial.

He said: "How can something that is in the interest of truth and justice not be in the public interest?"

Anyone wanting to sign the petition can log onto www.gopetition.com and search for Richard Chang.