China jails two employees of exiled tycoon Guo, tightens squeeze

Zhongyuan Bank

04/08/2017 08:12

BEIJING, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Friday 
sentenced three employees working for fugitive billionaire Guo 
Wengui, who has been locked in a high-stakes political feud with 
the ruling Communist Party, sending two of them to jail. 
    The Kaifeng Intermediate People's Court, in central Henan 
province, also fined Henan Yuda, a real estate company owned by 
Guo, 150 million yuan ($22.32 million) for fraudulently 
obtaining loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars from China 
Guangfa Bank  GDDVB.UL , Zhongyuan Bank  1216.HK , Industrial 
Bank  601166.SS  and others. 
    Two of the employees, Zhang Xincheng and Guo Lijie, were 
jailed for two years and 18 months respectively, while the 
third, Xiao Yanling, was found guilty but exempted from criminal 
penalty, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. 
    In a trial held last month, the three had admitted to 
falsifying contracts with fake shell companies at Guo's 
direction to fraudulently obtain loans totalling 1.495 billion 
yuan. 
    Guo, who now lives in New York having left China in 2014, 
did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. 
    "This is entirely a case of fabricating evidence (against 
me) to make false charges," he said in an online video blog on 
Thursday. 
    The case mirrors that of a trial in the northeastern city of 
Dalian involving another of Guo's companies and is the latest 
legal salvo in a sustained Chinese government effort to 
discredit and tighten pressure on Guo.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1J625O 
    Guo has emerged as a political threat to the Chinese 
government in a sensitive year after unleashing a deluge of 
corruption allegations against high-level Communist Party 
officials through Twitter posts and video blogs.  
    The businessman has made it clear that he wants to disrupt a 
key five-yearly congress to be held this autumn. 
    Guo's online claims have also seen him sued for defamation 
in New York by conglomerate HNA Group, property developer SOHO 
China, journalist Hu Shuli and Chinese housing vice-minister 
Huang Yan.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1KD03F 
    Guo is the subject of an Interpol global "red notice", which 
was issued at Beijing's request in April. 
    China Guangfa Bank declined to comment. Zhongyuan Bank and 
Industrial Bank did not immediately respond to requests for 
comment. 
($1 = 6.7 yuan) 
 
 (Reporting by Philip Wen; Editing by Nick Macfie) 
 ((Philip.Wen@thomsonreuters.com; +861066271261;)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA CORRUPTION/TYCOON