THE fall of Hui Ka Yan, the founder of real estate developer China Evergrande Group and once Asia’s richest man with an estimated fortune of US$45.3 billion in 2017, has certainly been steep. But it should not come as a surprise.

Hui, who was placed under investigation last week for possible wrongdoing, is only the latest in a long list of disgraced Chinese billionaires, including Xiao Jianhua (sentenced to 13 years in August 2022), Ye Jianming (reportedly detained in 2018 but not yet formally charged), Wu Xiaohui (serving an 18-year sentence after conviction in 2018), and many others.

In coming months, we should expect the Chinese government to portray Hui as a dishonest, greedy, and unscrupulous character. Missing in that narrative will be any hint that Chinese officials and the system they serve could have acted as Hui’s enablers and partners.