Sunday 6 December 2009

Gome founder to be charged with corruption, insider trading

After a year of gathering evidence, mainland prosecutors have decided to charge the billionaire and former Gome Electrical Appliances chairman with corruption and insider trading, mainland media said.

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Guanyu said...

Gome founder to be charged with corruption, insider trading

06 December 2009

After a year of gathering evidence, mainland prosecutors have decided to charge the billionaire and former Gome Electrical Appliances chairman with corruption and insider trading, mainland media said.

But financial weekly The Economic Observer said prosecutors had yet to decide whether to charge Wong Kwong-yu, who is called Huang Guangyu on the mainland, with tax evasion.

Xinhua.net also carried the report yesterday. It said prosecutors had finished putting together their case and would formally charge the 40-year-old Guangdong native soon.

If convicted, Wong could face more than 10 years in jail, the Observer report said.

The report said that Wong’s family had started hiring defence lawyers for him and his wife, Du Juan.

A Beijing-based lawyer, Yang Zhaodong, told the newspaper that he was one of the lawyers representing Wong.

Wong was detained in November last year for being involved in economic crimes.

Several of Guangdong’s political heavyweights were implicated in Wong’s case, sending tremors across the province’s political scene.

The downfalls of former assistant minister of public security Zheng Shaodong, former chairman of Guangdong Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Guangdong police chief Chen Shaoji, and former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, were reportedly linked to Wong’s case.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission last year accused Wong of manipulating the share price of Beijing Centergate Technologies, an A-share firm.

In 2006, Wong bought 200 million Centergate shares at 78 fen (88 HK cents) each. Then, last year, Centergate’s shares jumped as high as 17.80 yuan after he proposed injecting his property portfolio into the firm, though Centergate management later rejected the deal.

Wong gained from selling his stake in Centergate.