China sentences billionaire to death for mafia ties
I IN A A hinese court yesterday convicted a mining billionaire said to have links with former security tsar hou ongkang of murder and sentenced him to death.
iu Han led private company Hanlong, which once launched a billiondollar bid for an Australian firm. He and his brother iu ei were found guilty of “organizing and leading a mafia-style group,” murder and other crimes, the ianning Intermediate eople s ourt said.
They and three accomplices were sentenced to death.
The iu brothers gang, based in the southwestern province of Sichuan, killed eight people and wounded many others over nearly years, the court said in a posting on hina s Twitter- like Sina eibo.
“ iu Han and iu ei had e tremely malicious intentions, their acts were e ceptionally atrocious, their social influences were e tremely vile and their crimes and the conse uences were e tremely serious,” it said. “They should be s e v e re l y punished according to the law.”
Another 1 accused were given penalties ranging from suspended death sentences normally commuted to life imprisonment to three years in jail, state media said.
Sichuan is one of the power bases of hou ongkang, who once enjoyed vast power as hina s security chief but is now at the center of rumors about a corruption investigation. He has not been seen in public for months.
The influential business magazine Caixin has reported that iu Han once had dealings with a businessman believed to be hou s son.
State media have also hinted that the gang had connections to central government officials.
The court said riday that the gang were “sheltered by staff members of state organs.”
The Beijing ews previously uoted a friend of iu Han as saying that he spent “huge amount of money” to get to know a “leader” in 1 and from then “rapidly e panded his business to other provinces and foreign countries”.
hou was the party boss of Sichuan from 1 to before he was promoted to hina s all-powerful olitburo Standing ommittee, whose members have generally been regarded as untouchable even after retirement.
If the investigation into him is confirmed, it would mark the first time in decades that such a highranking figure has been targeted in a formal in uiry, a move that would send shockwaves through hina s political elite.