Tycoon strode a broad stage and worked to the end
In life of achievement, Taiwanese bribery charges caused his 'greatest humiliation'
Hong Kong tycoon Lim Por-yen died yesterday as the businesses he spent nearly 70 years fighting to establish continued to rebound from the lows of the Asian financial crisis. He was 93.
His group of companies suffered huge losses and had to restructure debt after the acquisition of the Furama Hotel in 1997 by his property unit, Lai Sun Development.
All the businesses are on the road to recovery after the sale of assets to lenders.
Lim was known for his hard work, often working seven days a week. 'He handed over the group's business just six months ago,' an executive said.
Before he stepped down, Lim had given advice for the restructuring of the group, the executive said. 'He made a lot of good decisions for the group in the past few years,' he said.
One of his last acts was to hand over his wealth to wife U Po-chu and one of his sons, Peter Lam Kin-ngok, last month. At the same time he gave up one of his favourite snacks, a McDonald's filet o' fish, which he regularly had for lunch.
Lim made his fortune from clothes but first became involved in the property and investment business in the mid-1950s.
He extended his empire to media by taking control of ATV but sold his substantial share to a mainland consortium led by Feng Xiaoping and Liu Changle in 1998.
Lim hit the news when he faced bribery charges in Taiwan in 1997 for funnelling $55.6 million in bribes over a land deal to Taiwanese local government through a former aide. He was found guilty and jailed for three years and two months. Lim, who has always denied any wrongdoing, appealed.
He was allowed to leave in 1999 on $9.6 million bail after an extraordinary intervention by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, who asked mainland officials to urge Taipei to let him return to Hong Kong on humanitarian grounds. Lim later disclosed he had written to Mr Tung seeking his help.
The experience was a blow to him, as he once said: 'Twice I had to take a 15-minute walk to the clinic with my hands chained. This was the greatest humiliation of my life.'
His appeal against conviction was rejected in 2002 but the sentence was reduced to 18 months. He never returned to Taiwan, although he once said he would seek compensation from the island authorities.
Lim was the founder of the Lai Sun Group. He was also the chairman and managing director of Lai Sun Garment (International), the chairman of Crocodile Garments and Lai Fung Holdings, and an executive director of eSun Holdings Limited.
He also had a good relationship with the central government, being an honorary citizen of the cities of Guangzhou, Shantou , Xiamen and Zhongshan .
Lim was also one of the Hong Kong affairs advisers to the People's Republic of China and a founder member of The Better Hong Kong Foundation.
He had three wives, two sons and one daughter.
