CARRIAN, AN empire that encompassed shipping, insurance and tourism, captured the spirit of the 1980s - Greed is Good - with such chutzpah that even Wall Street's arch-capitalist Gordon Gecko would be rendered speechless.
But this is no work of fiction. It's fact, it's Hong Kong and the ramifications can still be felt today - and not just in the SAR. Malaysian princes and politicians, blue-chip British companies and the territory's banks all take bows in Carrian: Robed Men Of Justice.
With its publication on CD-ROM in August, Hector Lee has compiled the first full account of one of the world's greatest corporate frauds.
For 36-year-old Lee, the tale is fixed in his own lifetime and experiences. Reflecting on his schooldays, Lee says: 'I was attracted to it [Carrian] because [John] Wimbush's son was in the year above me. I was aware of the scandal as it unfolded. It left a tremendous impression on me.'
In 1983, Wimbush, who advised Carrian's founder and was implicated in a notorious property deal, was discovered in a swimming pool with a rope attached to his neck. The rope, in turn, was attached to a 22-kilogram concrete manhole cover.
The police labelled his death a suicide. It is not the only death attached to Carrian and nor is it the only aspect that does not quite add up.