THE tale of the fraud and collapse of Torex Retail is indeed a tale of hubris.

Of course every successful businessperson has to be driven by desire and ambition. There is no other way to be successful in business.

A wallflower will never build a multi-million pound company without a streak that borders on ruthlessness to do almost everything that is required.

But the key is almost.

Drive and ambition are admirable, sharp but legal practice at times tolerable, but never should corners be cut or rules bent to the extent that the law is broken and others are badly, materially affected.

That is what happened at Torex, where the value of the company was inflated to present a false appearance to the public and investors.

There have been claims this fraudulent activity was to keep the company trading rather than a malevolent scheme to harm others.

But look what happened. Ultimately the company failed and a lot of people lost significant sums of money.

Judge Mary Jane Mowat was correct about hubris. It’s a lesson for all business owners not to take others blithely down with them.