Govt to auction off fugitive tycoon’s Beijing properties

Properties once owned by fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui will be auctioned off at the end of August, authorities announced.

Forty-one apartments and 19 offices worth 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in Pangu Plaza, a landmark near the Beijing Olympic Park in northern Beijing, owned by the real estate company of Guo, will be auctioned off starting August 31, judicial sale website beijingfapai.com said.

The apartments will be individually auctioned off, with the lowest starting price of 46 million yuan and the highest at 83 million yuan. Interested buyers need to pay a deposit of more than 9.2 million yuan before the auction.

The opening bid for offices with a combined floor area of 59,800 square meters is 2.9 billion yuan, with a guarantee of 289 million yuan.

Guo Yi, chief analyst at Beijing-based real estate company Syswin, said some investors would be interested in Pangu Plaza’s unique location, and the price of the properties in a judicial auction would be lower than the market price, China Times reported on Tuesday.

Guo Wengui, the head of real estate company Beijing Zenith Holdings, which owns Pangu Palza, fled China under suspicion of multiple crimes in August 2014. He was listed under an Interpol “red notice” for wanted fugitives in April 2017.

Guo Wengui was charged for at least eight crimes in August 2017, including bribery, rape, duty-related encroachment, and fraudulently obtained loans.

Chinese police detained in April twin brothers who helped Guo Wengui forge what he claimed were “classified” Chinese government documents.

Police also said they would cooperate with US law enforcement authorities in a probe, wherein Guo Weigui contributed to US congressmen and former US government employees.