THERE must have been plenty of occasions in the past decade when the former chairman of the Far East Bank, Mr Deacon Chiu Te-ken, thought all was lost.
During that time, the family saw son Dennis's trial for manslaughter of a police constable in 1983, the deterioration of their entertainment empire and a rising mountain of debt incurred in a fight against charges of a multi-million dollar fraud.
The process has sapped the spirit and health of the ageing tycoon, who turns 68 a month from today, and consumed his family in a web of legal actions and counter-actions that only now seems about to reach its tortuous conclusion.
Yesterday, High Court judge Mr Justice Leonard handed down a permanent stay of proceedings against the elder Chiu - standing trial for fraud, estimated at $352.5 million, and related charges of conspiracy - on the grounds that he was suffering from dementia and was medically unfit to conduct his defence.
The decision was both a relief and a surprise, but it did not represent a complete release for the family. Mr Justice Leonard rejected a similar application from counsel representing Mr Chiu's son, David Chiu Tat-chong, 38, who said that to try him wouldbe an abuse of process and the Bill of Rights. The son's trial is expected to begin on May 5, after the High Court Judge gives his reasons for rejecting the application.
In his submission, Mr Deacon Chiu's counsel, Mr Anthony Scrivener, QC, said Mr Chiu's mental health had so deteriorated that he could not conduct a complex defence, a decade after the alleged conspiracy occurred.