Francis Leung Pak-to 'did not have the full picture' of an unsecured US$260 million loan collapsed group Peregrine made to an Indonesian taxi company Steady Safe and said he became aware of it only 'at a very late stage'.
The Steady Safe loan was a key factor behind the collapse of Peregrine Investments Holdings, considered Hong Kong's premier home-grown investment bank prior to its January demise.
Describing what Mr Leung termed 'a personal tragedy', the former managing director said he had been spending 90 per cent of his time on the Greater China equities business and did not directly oversee the fixed-interest operations.
The fixed-income division was run by Andre Lee, who was understood to have reported directly to former chairman and co-founder Philip Tose.
Mr Leung said it was part of Peregrine's culture to allow section heads considerable autonomy.
'I was spending over 50 per cent of my time in China. Perhaps that was too much time,' Mr Leung said.
