As Rodney Adler enjoys his newfound freedom, Ray Williams languishes in jail and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission wraps up its HIH investigations, a long-running and high-profile case on the other side of the world has finally reached a conclusion.

The case against the failed Independent Insurance has uncanny similarities to the HIH saga, with guilty verdicts coming in against three former directors.

The Southwark Crown Court in London last week found former Chairman and CEO Michael Bright guilty on two counts of withholding claims data and non-disclosure of reinsurance contracts.

Finance director Dennis Lomas was also found guilty on both charges, while Deputy MD Philip Condon was convicted on the claims-related charge only and acquitted on the non-disclosure charge.

Mr Bright has been sentenced to seven years for each conviction, Mr Lomas received two four-year sentences and Mr Condon was given three years. The judge said each defendant will serve half his sentence in jail, with the sentences for Mr Bright and Mr Lomas running concurrently.

Independent Insurance went into liquidation in June 2001. The Serious Fraud Office brought the prosecution and successfully argued that the three defendants had conspired to disguise the true nature of the company's financial accounts.

The reported £22 million ($49 million) profit for 2000 should have been a loss of more than £180 million ($400 million).

One of the main planks of Mr Bright's defence was that external auditors KPMG and actuaries Watson Wyatt had given the company a clean bill of health.

Mr Bright was a larger-than-life figure in the UK insurance industry and - in another echo of HIH's legendary largesse - Independent Insurance was renowned for its lavish parties and generosity.

More than 1000 employees were made redundant, and shareholders and policyholders alike were left out of pocket.

Since the listed insurer's collapse, the UK Financial Services Authority has paid out more than £360 million ($800 million) in compensation.