MCLC: billionaire under investigation in Bo Xilai case

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: billionaire under investigation in Bo Xilai case
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Source: NYT (4/2/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/world/asia/xu-ming-bo-xilai-associate-und
er-investigation-reports-say.html

Billionaire Linked to Toppled Chinese Official Is Said to Be Under
Investigation
By MICHAEL WINES

BEIJING ‹ The Chinese authorities are reported to be investigating a
Chinese billionaire described as an associate of Bo Xilai, the
high-ranking Communist Party official whose dismissal and confinement last
month laid bare a split among the nation¹s leadership elite.

The billionaire, 41-year-old Xu Ming, is the founder and chairman of the
Dalian Shide Group, a conglomerate whose holdings range from home
appliances to finance to building materials. Mr. Xu failed to appear as
scheduled on Monday at the Bo¹ao Forum for Asia, an annual gathering of
leaders from business, government and academia on Hainan Island in
southern China.

Economy and Nation Weekly, a financial magazine affiliated with the
state-run Xinhua news agency, quoted unnamed sources on Saturday as saying
that Mr. Xu had been put under the control of Communist Party
investigators in connection with ³economic cases,² a term often associated
with corruption. Major news outlets carried similar reports over the
weekend, but government censors have deleted Internet references to the
case.

It was unclear whether any inquiry might involve Mr. Bo, a national power
broker who was removed as party secretary of metropolitan Chongqing on
March 15.

Since then, investigators with the party¹s Central Commission for
Discipline Inspection have summoned a number of officials and individuals
tied to Mr. Bo, 62, for interrogation in Beijing. The commission has been
quietly looking into Mr. Bo and his underlings since last year or earlier.
But that inquiry has clearly intensified in the two weeks since his
dismissal as Chongqing¹s party chief, according to Chongqing officials and
businessmen who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of
repercussions.

Mr. Xu has not been in contact with the Shide Group since March 14, the
day before Mr. Bo was fired, the Internet service Sina Finance News
reported. Contacted over the weekend by telephone, officials in Dalian and
in Liaoning Province, as well as the disciplinary commission and the
public security ministry, all said they had no information about Mr. Xu.

Even in ordinary times, an investigation of Mr. Xu, whose fortune has been
estimated by Forbes magazine at $690 million, would draw national
attention. But the latest report took on added importance as a potential
indicator of efforts by the ruling elite to build a case against Mr. Bo in
advance of a turnover in the party¹s leadership late this year.

Mr. Bo, who sits on the Politburo, had campaigned to join the body¹s
Standing Committee, the group that effectively runs China.

David Barboza contributed reporting from Shanghai, Jonathan Ansfield from
Beijing, and Jane Perlez from Bo¹ao, China.