Carrian Group was a tale straight out of a John Grisham novel, running the gamut of corruption, human greed, fraudulent accounting and false profits spanning across countries.

Almost four decades since the collapse of this huge conglomerate, we still don’t know the full story—but what we do know is behind this catastrophic failure stood some very fascinating characters: the prime minister of Malaysia, a charismatic CEO, government officials and high-level executives.

This wide-ranging group all aligned to create a labyrinth of business dealings that would blow up into a high-profile investigation, the murder of an auditor and a mysterious drowning, eventually ending up as one of the largest bankruptcies in Hong Kong history.

Find out how it went down on Episode 46 of The Great Fail.

Episode Sources

Wikipedia: Carrian Group

Carrian: End of a dark chapter in Hongkong’s financial and judicial history

The rise and fall of Carrian

The Most Scandalous Collapses in the Financial World

Malaysian Businessman Slated To Stand Trial in Hong Kong

MALAYSIA DISCLOSES DETAILS OF BANK SCANDAL

Wikipedia: George Tan

Former liquidator’s account of Carrian scandal brings key personalities to life

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad And The Murder Of Jalil Ibrahim

Remembering the Late OP Jalil Ibrahim

In memory of Jalil Ibrahim (2)

BMF Scandal : Jalil Ibrahim,The Banker Who Knew To Much 

List of 1977 Major News Events in History

1970s in Hong Kong

HOW THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF AN AUDITOR IN 1983 LED TO MALAYSIA’S FIRST BANKING SCANDAL

Special Guest

Philip Bowring
Journalist, Author, Historian

Philip Bowring has been based in Asia for 39 years writing on regional financial and political issues. He has been a columnist for the South China Morning Post since the mid-1990s and for the International Herald Tribune from 1992 to 2011. He also contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, www.asiasentinel.com, a website of which he is a founder, and elsewhere. Prior to 1992 he was with the weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, latterly as editor.

Bowring is an honorary member of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) who, in 2015, proclaimed, “His lifework embodies the highest standards of journalistic integrity.”

His book, The Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State, is available in the United States in June 2022.