Well to be fair, this is not my story, however it is a well known story in my country and I think it fits the bill.

I live in a 3rd world country (sic) at least that is the classification for us. As we emerged from colonial days the new crop of leadership took the term abuse of office to new heights. Cartel and power brokers cropped up and alot of people were taken advantage of.

In 1992 we were living under a dictator who had just survived a coup de ta attempt a few years prior sponsored largely by western powers eager for regime change (no surprise there) and he was understandably resentful as he had actually been a pretty benevolent leader prior to this. As a result there was a down low push to get rid of these foreign investors.

For background we are a pretty welcoming people and foreign investment does make up a bulk of our economy so kicking people out was much easier said than done, plus the aid money is pretty sweet so we try to play nice.

Anyway a top politician contracted an Israeli contractor to build one of the first shopping malls in an emerging high end area. At this time, the gap between the have and the have nots was really massive with no middle class to speak about so the power and influence available to this top politician was incredible.

So the agreement was to build some sort of twin buildings with one to serve as the mall and the other to be prime office or residential space.

The mall was completed first and the residential space was almost through as well. Long story short, the politician then had the bright idea to deport the Israeli contractor without payment (again, no surprise here). This would have been really simple at that time - trump up some charges, whisper in the president’s ear to handle the home country, arrest the guy, deport him before he knows what is happening and deny him re-entry top settle his affairs.

The contractor had other plans, on getting wind of the story, almost overnight, he poured thousands of kilos of quick mix concrete in all, and I do mean all openings in the building - from the droughts and lift vaults, to the toilets, sinks and bathroom drainages.

Several attempts have been made to remedy the situation to no avail, additionally, rumour has it that the building’s foundations are linked, therefore can’t bring one down independently.

So he was left with a large building sitting on prime property that can never be used and as far as revenge goes, this was served below freezing point.