Five employees from fugitive tycoon’s firms plead guilty

Five employees from two companies linked to fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui pleaded guilty and confessed to inappropriate behavior on Friday at a trial in a district court in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

Qu Long, a former executive at Tianjin Huatai Holding Group Ltd, and Zhao Yun’an, former company chairman, were accused of misappropriation of funds.

At the same time, three former employees of Guo’s Beijing Pangu Investment Company – Gao Song, Ma Nan and Cheng Xiuhua – were accused of embezzlement.

The trial began at 8:30 am Friday at Xigang district court in Dalian and it was broadcast with pictures and text on the court’s Sina Weibo account.

The court said that Zhao’s wife approached Guo Wengui through an intermediary to bail out Zhao in 2008.

In June 2008, Zhao proposed that Huatai’s assets be transferred to Guo so that Guo could take control of Huatai.

In July 2008, without calling a board meeting, Guo ordered Qu to transfer more than 400 million yuan ($60 million) from Huatai’s account to companies controlled by Guo or for Guo’s personal use.

Qu admitted in the trial that he helped transfer the funds under Guo’s instruction.

To keep the 400 million yuan, Guo persuaded Gao, Ma and Cheng in 2012 to forge a series of agreements and memorandums and to file a false civil case, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Guo transferred liabilities worth more than 400 million yuan to Zhengzhou Haohang Company in Central China’s Henan Province, which was incapable of repaying it, so he could illegally pocket the money, the report said.

Cheng admitted during the trial that she had fabricated the documents.

None of the five defendants and their lawyers denied the prosecutor’s charges. They said they merely obeyed Guo’s instructions.

The five defendants all pleaded guilty after the trial and admitted participating in the crime.

The court adjourned before noon. The verdict will be announced at a later date.

Guo fled China under suspicion of multiple crimes in August 2014. He is on Interpol’s “Red Notice” list of wanted fugitives, Xinhua reported.