Canadian tycoon of Chinese origin Xiao Jianghuamysteriously disappeared from a hotel in Hong Kong in 2017, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud, the Chinese justice announced on Friday.
Xiao was one of the richest men in China at the time of his arrest, with an estimated fortune of $6 billion. His conglomerate, Tomorrow, was a true diversified emporium with interests in sectors such as banking, construction and insurance.
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Until his disappearance, Xiao lived in Hong Kong in an apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel, then considered a haven for Chinese tycoons.
Now, the businessman was convicted of “diversion of public funds” and “illegal use of funds,” the Shanghai No. 1 Court, in which he was prosecuted, said in a statement.
He was also fined 6.5 million yuan, about $950,000.
In turn, his conglomerate, Tomorrow, was sentenced to pay a penalty of about 55,000 million yuan, that is, around 8,080 million dollars.
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Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian tycoon was sentenced, in #China 🇨🇳 to 13 years in prison and to pay a record fine equivalent to more than 9 million dollars for considering him guilty of illegal fundraising, illegal use of public funds and bribery. pic.twitter.com/euQ6MMMGqt
– Fernando José Kohutiak (@fjkohutiak) August 19, 2022
The story of his disappearance
The disappearance of this businessman, considered close to high-ranking Chinese communist leaders, caused a strong impact at the time in the former British colony, endowed with a legal framework different from that in force in mainland China.
According to press reports, the businessman was captured in January 2017 by agents from Beijing, when agents from mainland China were not authorized to act in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong.
The businessman may have been a victim of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which according to his detractors has also served to attack his political rivals.
More than a year and a half later, the businessman reappeared in a court appearance in Shanghai; Sources then quoted by the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post assured that he was detained in the nearby city of Suzhou and that he had lost about 20 kilos since his disappearance.
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#URGENT A Shanghai court has sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, not seen in public since 2017, to 13 years in prison and fined his conglomerate $8.1 billion for crimes of stock and futures market manipulation and bribery. pic.twitter.com/fKXB3s1Kxc
— InvestorExperto.com (@InvestorExperto) August 19, 2022
The Chinese authorities remained silent on the case, until last month the Canadian embassy in Beijing confirmed the opening of the process, without specifying the charges against him. No Canadian diplomats were allowed to attend the trial.
“China does not recognize dual nationality,” a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, replied on Friday.
Therefore, the spokesman added to the press, Xiao Jianhua “does not enjoy the right to consular protection.”
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The businessman’s capture at the time raised fears that other Hong Kongers could be forcibly taken to mainland China, where justice is largely subservient to the Chinese Communist Party.
Those fears fueled the massive pro-democracy demonstrations held in Hong Kong in 2019.
Xiao was ranked 32nd on the Hurun list of China’s richest men in 2016 and had an estimated net financial worth of about $6 billion.
Although he was a low-profile figure, he was attributed connections with China’s political elite, including relatives of the country’s president, Xi Jinping, whom, according to information that emerged in 2018, he would have addressed in a letter asking for mercy and Not an overly harsh sentence.
*With information from AFP and EFE
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