Thirteen years’ imprisonment, a personal fine of 945,000 euros and a fine of no less than 8 billion euros for Tomorrow, his financial group: on Friday August 19, the Shanghai court heavily sentenced Xiao Jianhua, this Canadian of Chinese origin, nicknamed “the banker of the red princes”whose fall was just as spectacular as its rise.
Born in 1972 to a teacher father, Xiao Jianhua joined Peking University at the age of 14. President of the official student association, he opposes the Tiananmen Square student movement of 1989. The authorities will remember this. As early as the 1990s, Xiao Jianhua began selling Dell and IBM computers near the campus of his former university. He also works for Microsoft. In a few years, he amassed a fortune estimated at more than 100 million euros.
Thanks to his connections, he then created an investment fund, one of the shareholders of which was none other than Peking University, placing the money of wealthy Chinese in various sectors, such as finance, real estate, technology or energy, taking advantage in particular of the wave of privatizations at the turn of the century. It is partly thanks to his investments that Zeng Qinghong and Jia Qinglin, two members between 2003 and 2008 of the standing committee of the political bureau of the Party, the highest circle of power, owe their fortune.
When Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, his sister and brother-in-law preferring to part with their own assets, Xiao Jianhua bought their shares in an investment company for 2.4 million dollars. (about 1.8 million euros), according to the New York Times. In 2016, Xiao is ranked 32e Chinese fortune by Hurun, the benchmark ranking. His fortune is valued at $6 billion. Owner of sumptuous residences in the United States and Canada, he obtained Canadian nationality.
Kidnapped in Hong Kong in 2017
But the tide is turning with Xi Jinping and his fight against corruption. Informed of an imminent arrest, Xiao Jianhua moved to the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong, a theoretically autonomous territory. But, in 2017, at the approach of the XIXe Party congress, the Chinese power hardens its campaign. As revealed by the hotel’s surveillance cameras, a group of men entered his suite on the night of January 26 to 27, 2017 and then came out a few hours later, taking Xiao Jianhua in a wheelchair and covering his head with ‘a bag. He will cross the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen on the 27th before disappearing in mainland China. An abduction ? He “rest abroad” says a statement from Tomorrow Group. For five and a half years, Xiao Jianhua will not give any news, until his reappearance on July 4 before a court in Shanghai.
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