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Meidu bosses plead guilty to graft and embezzlement charges
By Gao Changxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-02 07:25
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SHANGHAI: Two key suspects connected with the bizarre collapse of a nearly-completed residential building in the city last year pleaded guilty to charges of graft and embezzlement during their trial on Monday.
Que Jingde, 52, the second largest shareholder of Shanghai Meidu Real Estate, which developed the Lotus Riverside residential complex, has been charged with graft, while Zhang Zhiqin, 51, the largest shareholder of Meidu, has been charged with graft, embezzlement of corporate funds and causing a serious accident, which led to the death of a migrant worker and economic losses of nearly 20 million yuan ($2.9 million).
On June 27 last year, a 13-story building in the Lotus Riverside residential complex, located in suburban Minhang district, fell to its side, almost intact.
Investigations revealed the building collapsed as the foundation of the structure was undermined due to a combination of excavated soil piled 10 meters high on one side and the digging of a 4.6-meter-deep underground car garage on the other.
The prosecutor said Zhang had allowed an unqualified contractor to build the underground car garage in November 2008.
Zhang and Que were appointed to take charge of Meidu by the town government in December 1995, said a court statement.
The duo was charged with embezzling more than 40 million yuan in company funds from September 2000 to April 2001.
Zhang was charged with diverting 440 million yuan of company funds to invest in financial products for personal gain, with 20 million yuan in his personal account and the rest in the accounts of two companies he established from March to June in 2009.
Zhang said he had planned to tell the board about the investment, but could not do so because the board met only once a year.
Que denied allegations that he ever served as an assistant to the director of the Meilong town government in Minhang.
However, prosecutors maintained Que did hold that position, though never officially.
According to the indictment, Que was also the head of the Meilong Town Land Requisition Department, president of Shanghai Meilong Asset Investment Operation and Shanghai Xunhao Real Estate, in addition to his role as the second largest shareholder of Meidu.
Another six suspects, including Zhang Yaoxiong, the contractor and Qin Yonglin, project leader with Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Co Ltd, were sentenced to three to five years in prison on Feb 10 on charges of causing the accident.
