Interpol seeking Sing Pao chief for illegal fundraising

Sing Pao Daily News boss Gu Zhuoheng is wanted by Interpol for suspected illegal fundraising on the mainland, according to the mainland public security authorities on Thursday.

Gu, chairman of Sing Pao Media Enterprises, is being sought because of alleged illegal fundraising involving 1.35 billion yuan ($195 million). About 350 people were conned, suffering financial losses.

It is understood that Interpol, short for International Criminal Police Organization, has officially issued a “red notice” for Gu.

Such a notice, which is valid for five years, is renewable. It is usually for criminals on the most wanted list. If arrested by the Interpol, Gu will be extradited back to the Chinese mainland for a court hearing.

It was alleged that Gu, in 2012, had established a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform cnmeidai.com with a few partners, including his wife, Shen Wei. The platform had solicited the public to loan the investors’ money by promising a return of 10 to 20 percent annual interest. The fund developed through the platform grew considerably; initially, investors got their promised returns.

But the bubble eventually burst i n November 2014, when some investors found that they couldn’t withdraw their money from the platform. Gu promised t hat investors’ money would not be compromised when worried investors confronted him in the platform’s Shenzhen office. But he was unable to be reached after this. Records by mainland authorities showed Gu had left the mainland on Feb 25, 2015 and has never returned.

It is reported that Gu had stayed in Hong Kong after fleeing the mainland. He was believed to have frequently traveled between Bangkok and Hong Kong before he fled further to the United States.

Shenzhen Luohu district procuratorate ordered the arrest of Gu on May 27, 2015.

Except Gu, who is still at large, Shenzhen police arrested four other people, including Gu’s wife, who was former corporate representative of the company, Wang Jing, chief financial officer, Hao Jianguo, the company’s general manager and shareholder, and Hao’s assistant Wang Xuehua.

In May 2016, Hao and his assistant admitted to the court Gu was the prime culprit in the scam. Hao confessed that Gu even embezzled money from investors to buy his share of Sing Pao Daily News. Wang and Hao were sentenced to seven years in prison.

Gu’s assets on the mainland, i ncluding a plot of land estimated to be worth up to 3 billion yuan, have been frozen.