Dalian Shide Group’s billionaire chairman, Xu Ming, has been missing since failing to turn up at last year’s Bo’ao Forum on Hainan island. Xu, a close ally of Bo Xilai, was placed under government “control” as part of an investigation into an “economic case,” a magazine controlled by Xinhua reported. In September, Xinhua released allegations made in another man’s trial that Xu paid bribes to Bo and his family.
Businessmen “have to cultivate political ties and sometimes corruption is presumed,” said Chinese University’s Lam. “It’s a very tricky business. The Bo Xilai case illustrates that if their major patron is exposed then they need to cover themselves.”
Attempts to reach the police met with no response and they haven’t said whether he has been charged.
Not Final
It’s not impossible for Liu to emerge from his detention unscathed, according to a banker who has met him and is familiar with his political connections. He declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case.
Liu Ming Hui, who is not connected to Hanlong’s Liu, last year won back control of China Gas Holdings Ltd., 20 months after he was ousted following his arrest in Shenzhen on suspicion of embezzlement. Police didn’t press charges because “evidence was insufficient,” China Gas said in July.
Liu Han’s cousin, Liu Canglong, is a member of the country’s national political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He’s also a billionaire in his own right, with a combined net worth with brother Liu Hailong of 14.5 billion yuan, according to Hurun.
Liu Canglong’s Sichuan Hongda Group won a $3 billion coal and iron-ore concession in Tanzania in 2011. A Sichuan CDB branch official attended the signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam. The bank last year agreed to provide Sichuan Hongda $2.5 billion in “financial cooperation services.”
Zhou Yongkang
Zhou Yongkang, who retired from the Politburo standing committee and as head of China’s internal security services late last year, visited Sichuan Hongda in March 2001 when he was party secretary of the province -- the most senior official. Liu Canglong was “an entrepreneur who carries out his work with vigor and vitality,” Zhou said, according to the company’s website.