He was once Asia’s richest man, but Hui Ka Yan is now suspected of “illegal crimes” as the turmoil surrounding property giant China Evergrande deepens.
Mingling with power brokers at celebrations to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1, 2021, a beaming Hui Ka Yan showed no signs that his company, China Evergrande Group, was facing mounting pressure paying its debts.
Just two years later, Hui, who founded Evergrande in 1996 in the southern city of Guangzhou, is under investigation over suspected “illegal crimes”, the group said on Thursday, and his property empire is under growing risk of liquidation. The 64-year-old former steel technician, raised by his grandmother in a rural village in central Henan province, built his fortune on the back of low-priced homes.Under Hui, the property developer expanded aggressively by raising loans to support its land-buying sprees and selling homes at lower margins for quick turnover. Evergrande grew to achieve 700 billion yuan in annual sales by 2020.
Hui was known for keeping a low public profile and being a workaholic, who at times demanded that others followed his work style, three employees told Reuters. Outside mainland China, Hui mixed with Hong Kong tycoons. With them, he became a core member of the “poker club”, a tight-knit circle of tycoons who often did investment deals together, according to three people familiar with the club.