The following article was published in the ‘Lithgow Mercury’ in November 2001:

What would you do if you suddenly became aware that your employer was an international con man who was not only wanted by Interpol for serious scams and rip-offs in at least three countries, but was also wanted for bigamy in those three countries? This was the dilemma that faced local Lithgow son Graham Segal when he was recruited by the con man to lead a small business survival team to turn around Malaysia’s largest heavy haulage transport company. The company had serious trading and financial problems and was facing closedown if urgent corporate surgery could not restore it to profitability. This is Graham’s story…

“I joined the company in mid-1991 when it was in dire straits. The company had suffered massive financial losses, in part due to inept management by the company directors and in part due to corrupt practices by some of the senior executives. The principal banker, representing creditors, had told the company directors that unless they could inject additional capital into the company, it would be closed down. The directors then made a frantic search for investment funds and discovered an englishman with apparently impeccable financial credentials who just happened to be seeking investment proposals.

You can guess what happened next. Continue reading “WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU DISCOVERED YOUR BOSS WAS AN INTERNATIONAL CON MAN?”

On Tuesday, January 17, at 5:46 a.m. local time, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the region of Kobe and Osaka in south-central Japan. This region is Japan’s second-most populated and industrialized area, after Tokyo, with a total population of about 10 million.

The shock occurred at a shallow depth on a fault running from Awaji Island through the city of Kobe, which in itself has a population of about 1.5 million. Strong ground shaking lasted for about 20 seconds and caused severe damage over a large area.

Nearly 5,500 deaths have been confirmed, with the number of injured people reaching about 35,000. Nearly 180,000 buildings were badly damaged or destroyed, and officials estimate that more than 300,000 people were homeless on the night of the earthquake.

Damien and Ane were there …

The life loss caused by the earthquake was the worst in Japan since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, when about 140,000 people were killed, mostly by the post-earthquake conflagration. The economic loss from the 1995 earthquake may be the largest ever caused by a natural disaster in modern times. The direct damage caused by the shaking is estimated at over Â¥13 trillion (about U.S.$147 billion). This does not include indirect economic effects from loss of life, business interruption, and loss of production. Continue reading “The Great Hanshin – Kobe Earthquake – a Segal Perspective”