Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Corrupt comrades become gold diggers at China's state-owned companies Chinese companies raise red flags CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES

- By Kapila Bandara

Communist Party graft investigat­or, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said Ren is suspected of "serious law and discipline violations''. Ren has been a standing committee member of the Communist Party of Dongfeng Motor Company since August 2003.

The 2013 annual report shows that in 2012, Ren was highest earning supervisor ahead of five others. His total packet including salary, bonus, and pension was worth 2.1 million yuan. This was bigger than that of the highest paid executive director at 813,000 yuan.

In 2013, the Supervisor­y Committee oversaw "financial matters and the legality and compliance of rules and regulation­s by the directors and senior management'', the annual report notes.

There have been major frauds involving Chinese companies listed in the US as well.

A couple of months ago, the US Securities and Exchange Commission secured a conviction against an AutoChina Internatio­nal executive and others for rigging share trades to inflate trading volumes and gain favourable terms for a bank loan. Senior executive and director Hui Kai Yan and 10 others were convicted of market manipulati­on. The SEC charged that from October 2010, they "deposited more than US$60 million into US-based brokerage accounts and engaged in hundreds of fraudulent trades over the next three months through these accounts and accounts with a Hong Kongbased broker-dealer''. AutoChina, a commercial vehicle leasing company, was fined US$4.35 million, earlier.

China's corruption investigat­or also said in December that China Shenhua Energy Company vice president, Hua Zeqiao, 62, is suspected of "serious violations" of the law. He had retired in March, a company announceme­nt reveals. The coal mining company says Hua was vice president since November 2004.

Yet another executive Wu Ruosi, who had been a non-executive director for just three months resigned in November citing "personal reason''. It has now been revealed by China Shenhua Energy that he is also facing a judicial investigat­ion.

Also last month, Sun Zhaoxue, former general manager of aluminium producer Chinalco, was expelled from the Communist Party, following a corruption investigat­ion, the state news agency Four executives expelled - chief financial officer, two executive vice presidents, and chief operating officer of flight operations. All under investigat­ion for "job-related crimes''. Interim earnings report for 2014 says it is "facing an extremely complicate­d external condition and there are lots of challenges''. Reported a loss of 814 million yuan (US$131.1 million) for six months ended June 30, 2014. Current liabilitie­s exceeded its assets by 25.1 billion yuan; debt to equity ratio 286 per cent; borrowings 65.8 billion yuan. Held by China Southern Air Holding Company, a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Xinhua reported. He took "a huge amount in bribes'', and also committed adultery, the anti-graft body said. In September, the Aluminum Corporatio­n of China announced that Sun, 51, non-executive director, was suspected of serious violations of laws and discipline­s, and was under investigat­ion by authoritie­s.

He was elected as non-executive director at the 2013 annual general meeting in June, 2014. Last month, yet another executive at state-run Baiyun Industrial and Agricultur­al Corporatio­n was sentenced to death by a court in southern 2013 profit HK$14.6 billion (up by 39.1 per cent) on turnover of HK$71.3 billion China Resources National Corporatio­n is the ultimate holding company Real estate company known as China Resources Beijing Land until 2002 At the end of the third quarter 2014, it was the 50th largest company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a market capitalisa­tion of HK$93.2 billion Guangzhou. Zhang Xinhua, was accused of multi-million dollar bribery and embezzleme­nt. He is appealing.

The same moth, Wang Zongnan, former chairman of Bright Food (Group) Co., went on trial in Shanghai accused of embezzleme­nt and bribery, Xinhua reported. He was accused of embezzling 190 million yuan between 2000 and 2006 during his tenure as chairman of Shanghai Lianhua Supermarke­t Holdings Company.

While several corrupt state-owned company executives have been red carded, many more would have heard the most recent warning from Wang Qishan, who heads the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the anti-graft agency. Xinhua reports last month that he expressed "strong political determinat­ion'', against corruption in the Communist Party-ruled state.

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