The founder of China’s largest home appliance chain, who was once the country’s richest man, has been jailed for 14 years for bribery, insider trading and illegal business dealings.
Huang Guangyu was also fined 600 million yuan (£60.4 million) and he had another 200 million yuan (£20 million) worth of property confiscated, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
There was no information about the fate of Mr Huang’s wife, Du Juan, or the former chairman of a property development company that he controlled who were on trial with him.
A Chinese lawyer for a major commercial law firm in Beijing told The Times the verdict’s message was clear. “Lots of people were watching this case and it should have a strong influence on the challenge to corruption in China,” said the lawyer who declined to be named.
The 41-year-old former head of giant chain Gome Electronics was arrested in November 2008 — the year in which he topped the Hurun Rich List of China’s wealthiest for the third time with a fortune estimated at $6.3 billion (£4 billion).
He became the country’s richest man in 2004 after founding GOME with his brother in Beijing in 1987 with an initial investment of 30,000 yuan (£3,043 ). He still owns about one-third of the shares of publicly-listed GOME, a stake worth £1.3 billion considerable holdings for a man who rose from humble beginnings in South China’s Guangdong province.
It took prosecutors until February this year to finally to bring charges against him.
He was accused of manipulating trading in two companies listed on mainland stock exchanges, the Securities Regulatory Commission has said.
The son of poor devout Christian peasant farmers from southern China, Mr Huang built his nationwide chain of several hundred stores from a single street stall selling radios and watches in Beijing in the 1980s when the Communist Party allowed private entrepreneurs to do business.
He became known as the “Price Butcher” for his cut-price merchandise.
However, his high profile left him vulnerable in a system where the system continues to favour state-owned firms and the status of entrepreneurs remains uncertain.
A string of newly rich real estate developers and private businessmen have been snared in corruption cases after making their fortune in a country where bribing officials is often necessary to get ahead.
Mr Huang’s case has netted several senior officials, including the Mayor of the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong, as well as a deputy minister of police.
Since his arrest GOME has been trying to separate itself from Huang, changing its logo, appointing a new chairman and selling a nearly 25 percent stake to US private equity firm Bain Capital in a $418 million deal last June.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does everything only for its own survival so somehow this man crossed a line somewhere. The CCP practices slavery, torture and even organ harvesting on its own people. All the governments of the world are aware of the brutality of the CCP but continue to do business because of corporate greed. To learn more facts about the cruel CCP, one may go on line and read The Nine Commentaries. Thank you for your consideration
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