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Gome ex-chairman Huang charged with bribery

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-02-20 16:16

China pressed charges for commercial crimes against Huang Guangyu, former chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd, China News Service said, citing a Beijing court.

Huang, who was the largest shareholder of China's second-biggest electronics retailer by market value, was charged for illegal operations, insider trading and offering bribes, the news agency said, citing Beijing No 2 People's Procuratorate. Accomplices of Huang were also indicted, China News said.

According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China passed in 1979 and revised in 1997, economic offenses expressly punishable by the death penalty include embezzling more than 100,000 yuan ($14,634) and serious fraud.

Huang's trial will likely end in a conviction but not a death sentence, said lawyer Yan Yiming, who defended former Shanghai Land Chairman Zhou Zhengyi against bribery charges in 2007. "Sentiment dictates somewhere between 10 and 20 years."

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission is also investigating Huang and his wife on charges of organizing a share repurchase by Gome in January and February 2008 to use the proceeds to repay a HK$2.4 billion ($309 million) personal loan.

Huang was detained by police in November 2008 and resigned as Gome's chairman two months later.

In 2008, Huang was ranked first on the Hurun Rich List with a net worth of $6.3 billion. The son of a peasant, Huang dropped out of school at 16 and traveled to Beijing from Guangdong province with his brother, Huang Junqin. They carried a bag of radios, batteries and other electronics devices from factories to sell in the nation's capital.

Gome replaced Huang as chairman with Chen Xiao and Zhou Yafei as chief financial officer with Fang Wei. The Hong Kong-based company with 742 stores in China is revamping existing stores, opening new outlets and paying debt after obtaining $431 million of financing in June.