Hong Kong, 19 November 2024: The biggest corporate corruption case in Hong Kong’s history, the Carrian Scandal, was revisited when our Senior Partner Colin Cohen gave an entertaining talk to the Rotary Club of Wanchai.

His presentation offered the audience a first-hand account of how Carrian, a rags-to-riches conglomerate, collapsed in 1983 amid revelations of large-scale fraud, with the subsequent legal fallout lasting many years. Colin, newly arrived in town at that time, was hired to represent three senior executives who had fled abroad. One of them, Malaysian banker Lorrain Osman, gained notoriety as the United Kingdom’s longest-serving remand prisoner while fighting extradition to Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong was a different world 40 years ago. The Carrian story certainly had its share of colourful characters, intrigue and strange plot twists,” says Colin. The episode was recently retold in a major movie, “The Goldfinger”, featuring two of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, Tony Leung and Andy Lau.

Colin was invited to give his talk to the Rotary Club of Wanchai’s regular lunch at the Grand Hyatt, with members of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong also attending.