BEIJING - The brother of a billionaire who died after eating a cat meat hotpot, claims he may have been poisoned.

Long Liyuan, the CEO of a forestry company in Gaozhou, Guangdong province, died after eating the hotpot on Friday. The two friends he was with were hospitalized with serious food poisoning.

One has now been discharged, but the other is still receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.

According to local police, Long's autopsy report will only be issued after 30 working days.

However, although the owner of the hotpot restaurant has been detained by local police for "manufacturing and selling unsanitary food", the cat meat might have nothing to do with the billionaire's death, according to his brother and a friend.

Long had invested heavily in a local forestry company, and some people in the business may have wanted him dead the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News quoted Long's brother as saying.

According to Long's anonymous friend, the businessman intended to report some of his business partners to the discipline inspection departments.

Police have already questioned five people in the company.

On Sunday a netizen added to the intrigue by posting that "solid evidence to prove that Long was poisoned" can be provided, if Long's relatives or police offer a reward.

Long's relatives have now offered a reward of 100,000 yuan ($16,000) for information about his death.

However, animal rights activists seem to be more concerned about the fact he was eating cat, rather than determining the cause of his death.

"I know that I should show respect to the deceased, but I have to say that great amount of cats and dogs are shipped to Guangdong province for local people to eat," said Mo Teng, who lives in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.

Qiao Huasong, who teaches at the high school affiliated to Central Conservatory of Music, wrote on his Sina micro blog that it is no wonder that the victim is from Guangdong, because they "eat everything that flies except planes and everything that has four legs except desks".

People in Guangdong traditionally eat cats. One of the most famous Cantonese dishes, called "dragon, tiger and phoenix", contains the ingredients of snake, cat and chicken.

As a successful businessman, Long had donated more than 11 million yuan to charity. He provided jobs to more than 1,000 people, and paid taxes of 20 million yuan in all.

Qiu Quanlin contributed to this story.