China Resources’ vice-president Jiang Wei latest executive to be implicated in corruption probe
A vice-president of state-owned conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) has been in detention for at least a month as part of a graft investigation, a source and mainland media reports said.
A vice-president of state-owned conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) has been in detention for at least a month as part of a graft investigation, a source and mainland media reports said yesterday.
A source close to the company told the that the investigation into Jiang Wei was linked to China Resources' controversial acquisition of a Shanxi coal mining firm four years ago.
China Resources' board office in Hong Kong confirmed yesterday that Jiang had been detained by the authorities.
"Mr Jiang has been taken away by prosecutors to assist in an investigation," a staff member said, refusing to provide further details.
Jiang is the latest in a string of senior executives of the company and its subsidiaries to be detained in corruption inquiries since former chairman Song Lin was taken away earlier this year.
China Resources (Holdings) is the parent company of five Hong Kong-listed firms. From 2001 to 2012, Jiang was the chief financial officer of the parent company.
He also later became the chairman of China Resources Capital, the group's financial service platform, putting him at the helm of China Resources Capital's five offshoots, including China Resources Bank of Zhuhai, China Resources Investment Enterprise and China Resources SZITIC Trust.
Jiang was in hot water over his decision in 2010 to have China Resources SZITIC Trust lend about 2 billion yuan (HK$2.5 billion) to Jinye Coal and Coking Group in Shanxi, a problematic acquisition that China Resources Power (CRP), a subsidiary of the parent group, made that year, the source and the reports said.
CRP bought troubled Jinye for 7.9 billion yuan in May 2010.
It was accused of dramatically overpaying for the coal group, and controversy over the deal later triggered a series of investigations by the authorities into a number of China Resources executives. To help pull Jinye out of its financial straits, CRP enlisted China Resources SZITIC Trust to lend about 2 billion yuan to Jinye for a little under two years. But Jinye failed to pay back the money by the 2012 deadline.
and the source claimed that Jiang juggled the trust company's finances to make it appear - at least on paper - that the debt had been repaid.
State auditors looked into CR Capital's books last year and reported in June this year that they had uncovered a web of problems with its accounts. But it is not clear if any of those issues are related to the Jinye loan.
Jinye's boss, Zhang Xinming, once the richest man in Shanxi, was taken into custody in August, the same month that CRP executive director Wang Yujun was detained by prosecutors in Jiangsu province.
On Saturday, the director of the Shanxi Coal Industry Bureau, Wu Yongping, was detained by the province's anti-graft agency for investigation.
Several sources in Shanxi said that Wu helped pave the way for the Jinye acquisition.
