Mr. Tan and his friends, for their part, filed a series of actions specifically aimed at damaging Lynas's ability to secure additional funding and force it to give up.
He said unless there was legislation to curb the number of special advisers and give legal force to the rules governing their conduct, the issue would continue to "fester" damaging both the government and the civil service.
Det Ch Insp William Lyle said the force was determined to catch the people responsible for the thefts, which he said were seriously damaging the businesses targeted.