Dalian Wanda denies ‘ scandalous, malicious’ rumors about chairman

Chinese commercial property conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group denied rumors on Monday that its chairman, Wang Jianlin, is banned for going abroad.

The company said in a statement on its website that certain sources had intentionally spread malicious rumors about Wang.

Such rumors began to appear in mid-August, which proved to be untrue after Wang led a trip to Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China’s Gansu Province.

Similar rumors continued to spread after anonymous sources changed the time and date of their online posts and after some foreign news media on Sunday continued to spread lies through malicious, slanderous claims, the company said.

Allegations on WeChat public accounts on Sunday said police detained Wang in North China’s Tianjin Municipality before he and his family were able to leave for the UK on a private jet. He was released after several hours, but was banned from traveling abroad.

All rumors have no basis and mali- ciously motivated, the company said, adding that it hopes the public will not believe them nor spread them.

Wanda reported the matter to relevant government departments and also informed the police, the company said, noting that it is considering legal measures against some media outlets to protect its rights and interests.

Stocks of a subsidiary of Wanda Group, Wanda Hotel Development Company, fell 8.09 percent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.

Wanda announced plans last week to build a large tourist attraction in Lanzhou after selling 13 properties to Tianjin- based property company Sunac China Holding.

Wanda said in July it agreed to sell 13 tourist properties as well as 76 hotels to Sunac in a deal worth 63.17 billion yuan ($ 9.3 billion).