Carrian Group

The Carrian Group was a Hong Kong conglomerate that was known for rapid expansion in the 1980s, which ended in collapse amidst a major corruption and fraud scandal.[1]

Carrian Group
Public
FateBankruptcy
Founded1977
Defunct1983
HeadquartersHong Kong
Area served
Australia
Japan
Malaysia
New Zealand
Taiwan
Thailand
United States
Key people
George Tan, Founder
ProductsDiversified Investments

Founding
Main article: George Tan

Carrian was founded in 1977 by George Tan Soon-gin, who fled Singapore following a bankruptcy in 1974.[2][3]

Operations

The company, at various points of its existence, had operations in pesticide, tourism, shipping, insurance, taxi fleets, and restaurants.[3][4]

However, the company's main business is noted to be in real estate.[3]

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$998 million. It grabbed the limelight in April 1980 when it announced the sale of Gammon House for HK$1.68 billion, a high return on investment that surprised Hong Kong's property and financial markets and developed public interest in Carrian.[5]

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, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, and the United States. Its rapid expansion has led to rumors over the source of its capital, with various rumors speculating the capital came from Imelda Marcos, Gosbank, and a lumber corporation in Borneo.[3]

Downfall

Carrian Group became involved in a scandal with Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad of Malaysia and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Bumiputra Malaysia Finance. 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.[6]

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.[3]

Legacy

Almost no traces of Carrian Group remain following its collapse. A Hong Kong restaurant that specializes in Teochew cuisine, Carriana, was loosely named after Carrian due to links between one of its former owners, Chim Pui-chung, and Carrian. Carriana is currently a listed company in Hong Kong[7]

Media portrayal

The 2020 TVB drama series Of Greed and Ants (黃金有罪) is based on various aspects of the fraud scandal that Carrian Group was engulfed in.[8]

Books
  • Vengadesan, Martin; Sagayam, Andrew (2019). Malaysian Murders and Mysteries:A century of shocking cases that gripped the nation. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. ISBN 978-981-4868-82-2. Retrieved 5 March 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Naylor, R.T. (2004). Hot Money and the Politics of Debt (Third ed.). McGill–Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2743-5. Retrieved 5 March 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Fung, Bongyin (2017). Cheng, Hoiben; Lau, Yusum (eds.). 香港企業併購經典（增訂版） [Hong Kong Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions Classics (Updated Version)] (in Chinese) (August 2017 Hong Kong Updated Version, 1st Printing ed.). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 978-962-04-4225-4. Retrieved 5 March 2020.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References
  1. Vengadesan & Sagayam 2019, p. 72.
  2. Naylor 2004, p. 209.
  3. Fung 2017, p. 45.
  4. Bangsberg, P.T. (15 September 1987). "Hong Kong Acquits Defendants In Costly Carrian Fraud Case". joc.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  5. Ali Cromie (February 19, 1986). "Carrian fraud trial opens in Hong Kong". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  6. "Carrian Receivers". The New York Times. October 19, 1983.
  7. Chow, Hin (16 November 2016). "此馬來頭大的佳寧娜" [Carriana: The "Horse" With a Big Background]. am730 (in Chinese). Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  8. Wong, Zi Hang (8 January 2020). "【黃金有罪】參考真實「佳寧案」　當年轟動一時的大騙案" [Of Greed And Ants is based in the real-life Carrian Scandal, [which was] a major fraud scandal at the time] (in Chinese). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
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