Year of lessons for corrupt businesspeople, officials
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-09 07:15

Illegal fundraising, contract fraud, bribery, tax evasion, loan fraud and physical assault were the crimes that led to the downfall last year of some of the country's wealthiest private business owners.

Before their fall, some even had renowned political and social status as deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Others were well known for their charity work, China Youth Daily reported on Monday.

In February, Wu Ying, the 26-year-old chairwoman of Bense Trade Co Ltd in Zhejiang province, was arrested for illegal fundraising and withholding pay from her employees, the newspaper said.

She reportedly amassed a fortune of 3.8 billion yuan ($523 million), according to the Guangdong-based newspaper Shenzhen Daily, which early in the year had ranked her the sixth-richest woman on the mainland.

"Chinese entrepreneurs should be educated to increase their awareness of the law," the newspaper report said.

Xie Guosheng, the former chairman of the Shenzhen-listed Jiaozuo Xin'an Science and Technology, was sentenced to prison on fraud charges in July.

He had earlier ranked 348th on Forbes' China 2005 rich list with an estimated fortune of 550 million yuan.

In a similar case, Shanghai tycoon Zhou Zhengyi was arrested in January for bribery and forging VAT receipts, just a few months after completing a three-year jail term for fraud and stock manipulation.

Zhou, who ranked 11th on the Forbes list of the 100 richest mainlanders in 2002, was the majority shareholder of the Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Land Holdings and Shanghai Merchants Holdings.

Li Yichao, the former head of the Luoyang Zhongtai Group from Henan province, was detained for suspected tax evasion in February.

He was also expelled from the NPC.

In 2006, he ranked 342nd on the Forbes list with an estimated fortune of 880 million yuan.

"An outstanding entrepreneur should have healthy personal beliefs that accord with society's mainstream moral obligations," China Youth Daily said.

The government should also develop new ways to prevent this kind of crime and corruption, it said.

According to official government figures, in the first six months of last year, the authorities investigated 24,879 graft cases involving government officials.

The total value of the bribes involved was more than 6 billion yuan.

Also last year, eight high-ranking officials were expelled from the Party and put on trial.

These included Chen Liangyu, Shanghai's former Communist Party chief, and Pang Jiayu, vice-chairman of the Shaanxi provincial committee of the CPPCC.

Xinhua