9 Billionaires Facing Legal Trouble

BANGALORE: They are wealthy, they are powerful. There is little in the world that they can’t get hold of if they wished to. Then why these corrupt practices, why this bending and breaking of law?  Could greed be a reason? Erich Fromm said, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” The bulk of the billionaires, who are serving jail terms or had a brush with the law, are accused of tax fraud, insider trading and bribing. Here is a compilation of 8 such men who were otherwise brilliant professionals and served as role models for many, as reported by Forbes.

Joseph Lau: The billionaire real estate investor and the former Chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings was recently found guilty for paying the former public works Chief Ao Man-long a bribe of HK$20 million for five prime plots overlooking the Macau airport. The trial took 2 years and Lau was not present in the court most of the time. The court highlighted the fact that Lau had hired architect firm Hsin Yieh to prepare design for the land even before the tender was made public. Ao Man-long was sentenced to 29 years in jail. Lau was served a five year and three months jail term. His partner, Steven Lo Kit-shing who acted as facilitator in the process was also sentenced to a jail term of the same duration. Lau resigned from the Chairmanship of Chinese Estates Holdings after the verdict and made way for his son. What acts in favor of the billionaire though, is the fact that Hong Kong and Macau have not signed an extradition treaty. So the Lau is safe until he sets feet in Macau.

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