Shanghai tycoon Zhou Zhengyi (周正毅), one of China's wealthiest businessmen, has been detained by authorities in the country's biggest city for alleged loan irregularities, state press reported yesterday.
Authorities were holding Zhou, chairman of Shanghai Land Holdings and Shanghai Merchants Holdings, for investigation by the China Banking Commission and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
Zhou, also head of Shanghai-based Nongkai Development Group, is notably linked to the vice-chairman and chief executive of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Liu Jinbao (
Newly appointed chairman of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Xiao Gang (
State press reported otherwise, saying Liu's removal was in fact connected to 1.5 billion yuan to 1.7 billion yuan (US$181 million to US$205 million) in loans he approved that allowed Zhou to buy stakes in Shanghai Land and Shanghai Merchants.
Although Liu was then serving as general manager of the Shanghai branch of Bank of China, such activities violated regulations because Zheng was not a qualified borrower, the China Business Observer said.
Officials at the Banking Commission contacted by reporters denied any knowledge of an investigation into Zhou's financial transactions.
The two companies furthermore denied legal action had been taken against Zhou, but said the Shanghai native used 2.29 billion shares -- a 75-percent stake -- in Shanghai Land and 182 million shares or a 44.1-percent stake in Shanghai Merchants as collateral for the new loans.
Zhou, who ranked 11th last year on Forbes magazine's list of the 100 richest people in China, reportedly also owes the Bank of China in Hong Kong some 800 million yuan in loans that will mature next month.
The 42-year-old is also engaged in a major dispute with more than 10,000 residents concerning relocation costs related to a property development project signed with the Shanghai city government last May.
They claim to have been rendered homeless after Zhou's company, Hong Kong Jiayun, failed to furnish proper compensation, sources familiar with the situation said.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS