Prosecutors in central China yesterday charged the former chairman of Hanlong Mining, which had tried to take over Australia’s Sundance Resources Ltd, with murder, gun-running and other crimes as part of a “mafia-style” gang.
Police last year announced the detention of Liu Han (劉漢), and an investigation into his younger brother Liu Yong (劉勇) — also known as Liu Wei (劉維) — on suspicion of various criminal activities.
In a report carried by Xinhua news agency, prosecutors in Hubei Province said the two Lius set up the gang in 1993, along with 34 others, which “carried out a vast number of criminal activities.”
Photo: Reuters
The gang was responsible for nine murders, the report said.
“Those charged also came up with myriad ways to draw in and corrupt officials who worked for the state, seeking their protection, to consolidate and expand their influence on society,” Xinhua added.
“Liu Han, Liu Wei and the others formed, led and participated in mafia-style crimes, murder, assault, illegal detention, interference in state functions, affray, extortion, gambling, illegally buying and selling guns, illegal gun ownership ... [and] fraud,” it said.
Reuters could not reach Hanlong for comment. It was also not possible to reach either of the brothers for comment.
The probe into Liu Han, ranked the 230th-richest person in China by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report in 2012, marks one of the highest-profile cases against private businessmen since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took power last year, vowing to crack down on corruption.
The police investigation into the activities of Liu Han and his associates eventually spanned more than 10 provinces and cities, including the capital, Beijing, Xinhua said.
Police seized thousands of bullets, plus 20 guns and three hand grenades, the report said, an unusual detail in a country where gun ownership is tightly controlled and gun crime rare.
State media reported last year that Liu Han was held for helping his brother Liu Yong evade capture over a 2009 triple murder.
Hanlong, based in southwestern Sichuan Province, holds a majority interest in the Australian-listed iron ore miner Moly Mines and remains Sundance Resources’ biggest shareholder, though its proposed A$1.4 billion (US$1.27 billion) takeover of Africa-focused Sundance was called off in April last year after Hanlong missed funding deadlines.
Uranium explorer Bannerman Resources ended talks on a A$143 million offer from Hanlong in late 2011 on similar funding hurdles.
Hanlong was also the principal financial backer and future customer of General Moly Inc’s US$1.3 billion molybdenum mining project in the US, in which Hanlong would help arrange a US$665 million loan from the China Development Bank. General Moly terminated the sale agreement in August.
Last month, Australia said it was seeking to prosecute a former executive of Hanlong Mining on insider trading charges after he was arrested in Hong Kong, while its former investment director, Calvin Zhu (朱博施), is serving a prison sentence in Australia for his role in an insider trading syndicate.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Canada next week, his first since relations plummeted after the assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist in Vancouver, triggering diplomatic expulsions and hitting trade. Analysts hope it is a step toward repairing ties that soured in 2023, after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed the finger at New Delhi’s involvement in murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claims India furiously denied. An invitation extended by new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Modi to attend the G7 leaders summit in Canada offers a chance to “reset” relations, former Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. “This is a
RSS