The Carrian Group was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

that was known for rapid expansion in the 1980s, which ended in collapse amidst a major corruption and fraud

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

Founding

Carrian was founded in 1977 by George Tan Soon-gin, who fled

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

following a bankruptcy in 1974.

Operations

The company, at various points of its existence, had operations in

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

, shipping, insurance, taxi fleets, and restaurants. However, the company's main business is noted to be in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

History

In January 1980, the group, through a 75% owned subsidiary, purchased Gammon House (a commercial office building, now Bank of America Tower) in Central District, Hong Kong for

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

998 million. It grabbed the limelight in April 1980 when it announced the sale of Gammon House for

1.68 billion, a high return on investment that surprised Hong Kong's property and financial markets and developed public interest in Carrian. In the same year, Carrian capitalised on its notoriety by acquiring a publicly listed Hong Kong company, renaming it Carrian Investments Ltd., and using it as a vehicle to raise funds from the financial markets. The group grew rapidly in the early 1980s to include properties in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its rapid expansion has led to rumors over the source of its capital, with various rumors speculating the capital came from

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictator ...

Gosbank Gosbank (russian: Госбанк, Государственный банк СССР, ''Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR''—the State Bank of the USSR) was the central bank of the Soviet Union and the only bank in the entire country from 1922 to 1991. ...

, and a lumber corporation in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

Downfall

Carrian Group became involved in a scandal with

Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad was a Malaysian bank, established in 1965. It was merged into Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings in 1999. The Inception On 4 June 1965, "Kongres Ekonomi Bumiputra" (Bumiputra Economic Congress), sponsored by the Ministry ...

and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary

Bumiputra Malaysia Finance ''Bumiputera'' or ''Bumiputra'' ( Jawi: ) is a term used in Malaysia to describe Malays, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, and various indigenous peoples of East Malaysia (see official definition below). The term is sometimes controver ...

. Following allegations of accounting fraud, a murder of a bank auditor, and the suicide of the firm's adviser, the Carrian Group collapsed in 1983, the largest bankruptcy in Hong Kong. The scandal and its ultimate downfall eventually exposed the mystery surrounding the seemingly inexhaustible capital that Carrian had as nothing more than loans from banking institutions.

Legacy

Almost no traces of Carrian Group remain following its collapse. A Hong Kong restaurant that specializes in

Teochew cuisine Chaoshan cuisine, also known as Chiuchow cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine or Teo-swa cuisine, originated from the Chaoshan region in the eastern part of China's Guangdong Province, which includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang. Chaos ...

, Carriana, was loosely named after Carrian due to links between one of its former owners,

Chim Pui-chung Chim Pui-chung (born 1946 in Chaozhou, Guangdong, China) was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco), representing the financial services, Financial Services Functional constituency (Hong Kong), Functional Constituency. He is exec ...

, and Carrian. Carriana is currently a listed company in Hong Kong.

Media portrayal

The 2020

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

drama series ''

Of Greed and Ants ''Of Greed and Ants'' ( zh, , l=Gold is Guilty, t=黃金有罪) is a drama series produced by Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Limited that is based on the history and scandal surrounding the Carrian Group and its founder, George Tan. The dram ...

'' (黃金有罪) is based on various aspects of the fraud scandal that Carrian Group was engulfed in.

Books

* * *

References

External links

Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong) The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong was established by Governor of Hong Kong, Governor MacLehose of Beoch, Sir Murray MacLehose on 15 February 1974, when Hong Kong was under colonial Hong Kong, British rule. Its ma ...

Report on Carrian
*

Philip Bowring Philip Arthur Bowring (born 22 November 1942) is an English journalist and historian who was business editor, deputy editor and editor of the Asian news magazine the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' for 17 years between 1973 and 1992. Early life Bo ...

's summary article o
Carrian
{{Corporate scandals Corporate scandals Corporate crime Land developers of Hong Kong Defunct companies of Hong Kong Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1977 Conglomerate companies disestablished in 1983 Political scandals in Malaysia 1977 establishments in Hong Kong Holding companies established in 1977 1983 disestablishments in Hong Kong Conglomerate companies established in 1977