The man who headed Australian insurance giant HIH, which collapsed in the country's biggest corporate failure ever, apologized yesterday to victims of the crash as he walked free from a Sydney jail.
Ray Williams, 71, served two years and nine months behind bars after pleading guilty to misleading shareholders about HIH's financial position, being reckless and failing in his duties as a director.
Thousands of people, including shareholders, builders and home owners, lost money when the firm collapsed with debts of A$5.3 billion (US$4.73 billion) in March 2001.
"The last thing in the world I would ever have wanted was for HIH to fail, for people to be hurt and for people to suffer financial loss. And I really am very sorry that that occurred," Williams told reporters on leaving prison.
The former HIH chairman was the highest-profile scalp in the investigation by Australia's corporate watchdog into the HIH affair, often dubbed "Australia's Enron."
Once feted by Australia's social elite and known for his lavish Sydney Harbour parties, the disgraced former high-flyer was driven away from Silverwater jail to his wife's multi-million dollar home in the affluent suburb of Seaforth on Sydney's north shore.
His release has sparked outrage from those who suffered in the wake of the HIH collapse, particularly as Williams was able to transfer some of his personal wealth to his wife before his conviction.
"Quite a lot of people who lost their houses through the default of HIH probably won't have the same opportunity," said Grey Whitbourne, who said he was one of many who could not forgive Williams.
"It doesn't seem fair because his retirement is assured and it's certainly not the case for a lot of the victims of the collapse," he told commercial radio.
One of Williams' Seaforth neighbors, who declined to give his full name, said that his parents had lost thousands of dollars to HIH and he felt sick at Williams' release.
"People lost their homes, my parents lost money, and he's got money squirrelled away everywhere and it makes me sick," he told reporters. "If you have a look in the driveway he's got a lovely Ferrari in the garage. It makes me sick, it makes everyone sick, and I wish he wasn't here."
The president of the Sydney Builders Collective, Phil Dwyer, said because HIH was the biggest provider of home indemnity insurance, many people were still struggling almost seven years later.
"He has got off so lightly considering the amount of hurt he's inflicted on thousands of ordinary Australian people," he told national radio.
Williams was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail in 2005, with a non-parole period of 33 months, after pleading guilty to making misleading statements about the company's financial position.
The former chairman was accused during hearings of a royal commission inquiry into the collapse of handing out millions of dollars in bonuses for senior executives just months before the company went under.
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