Evergrande's billionaire boss goes from power circles to police surveillance

Evergrande's billionaire boss goes from power circles to police surveillance

FILE PHOTO: Hui Ka Yan, chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, the country's second-largest property developer by sales, attends a news conference on annual results in Hong Kong, China March 29, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File photo

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.