Society
Chinese tycoon Huang gets 14 years in prison
(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-19 09:00
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A Beijing court Tuesday morning sentenced Huang Guangyu, former chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings, to 14 years in prison for illegal business dealings, insider trading and corporate bribery.
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 Huang Guangyu. [file photo]? |
Huang, once China's richest person, was also fined 600 million yuan ($88 million), with another 200 million yuan worth of property being confiscated, the Xinhua News Agency said.
Huang, 41, was detained in November 2008 for investigation of stock market manipulation allegations. He made his fortune by founding and building up Gome, now China's second largest home appliance retailer by market value.
He was ranked as mainland's richest person by Hurun's China Rich List from 2005 to 2008, with assets reached 43 billion yuan ($6.3 billion).
Du Juan, Huang's wife, was sentenced to three-and-half years for insider trading and fined 200 million yuan.
Huang's two firms, Gome and Beijing Pengrun Real Estate Development Company, were fined 5 million yuan ($735,000) and 1.2 million yuan respectively for giving bribes, the statement of Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court said.
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As the major shareholder of Beijing Centergate, Huang was found guilty of insider trading of the company's stocks in 2007, with a total value of more than 1.415 billion yuan. The dealings, from April to September, earned him more than 309 million yuan in illicit profits.
These dealings earned Huang more than 309 million yuan in trading profits.
Huang was found to be liable for the bribes given by the two companies as he was personally involved or directed others to do so, said the court.
He directly bribed or instigated others to bribe five government officials with 4.56 million yuan in cash and properties from 2006 to 2008 in exchange for corporate benefits, the indictment said.
Xiang Huaizhu, former deputy director of the economic crime investigation bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, stood trial in March on charges of accepting bribes of 1.06 million yuan to fix cases concerning Huang's companies.
Huang was also convicted of corporate bribery for asking Xu Zhongmin, former chairman of Beijing Centergate, to bribe police and taxation officials in whose cases no verdict has been announced. Xu was sentenced to three years and fined 100 million yuan
Sun Haiting, a senior official with the State Administration of Taxation's inspection bureau, allegedly accepted 1 million yuan, and two Beijing taxation officials 500,000 yuan each.
Jin Hongli, a police official from the economic investigation division of the Beijing municipal public security bureau, received 1.5 million yuan from Xu, the indictment said.
A number of other police officials, including Zheng Shaodong, former assistant minister of public security, have also been investigated for accepting bribes from Huang.
Former chairman of the Hong Kong-listed Gome, Huang was born into a poor family in Fenghu village, Shantou, Guangdong province.
He was also convicted of illegally trading 822 million Hong Kong dollars from September to November 2007.
The statement said the court found Huang's crimes to be extremely serious, but showed leniency because he had admitted guilt and assisted with the criminal investigation.
Yang Zhaodong, one of Huang's defense lawyers, told reporters soon after the verdict that Huang was "calm" upon hearing the sentence, but his family, including his mother and two sisters, turned very emotional.
Gome shares closed up less than 1 percent on Tuesday at HK$2.32 after the sentencing was announced.
Gome Group, issued a statement on Tuesday, saying it respects the verdict. "With the case coming to an end and the company's restructuring complete, Gome Group, with abundant capital and stable structure, will focus on its operations," the statement said.