Chinese tycoon jailed for bribery

Chinese tycoon Huang Guangyu jailed for bribery

Mr Huang's vast personal wealth put him in the authorities' spotlight
Chinese tycoon Huang Guangyu has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of bribery, insider trading and illegal business practices.
Huang, who was for a time the richest man in China, was also fined 600 million yuan ($88m; £59m), the official Xinhua news agency said.
He built a billion-dollar business from almost nothing, after dropping out of school nearly 30 years ago.
His business grew into a chain of more than 1,300 stores across China.
The court in Beijing said the Gome chain and Huang's property development company Beijing Pengrun Real Estate had between them paid out 4.56m yuan in bribes between 2006 and 2008.
The bribes, in the form of cash and properties, were paid to five government officials in exchange for corporate benefits.
The Gome chain of domestic appliance shops was the second largest in the country.
Canny investments in property helped Huang build a fortune estimated to be between $2.7bn (£1.72bn) and $6.3bn at the time of his arrest, and in 2008, he topped the Hurun Report's China rich list.
But a few months later he was arrested and he went on trial in Beijing last month.
He stepped down as Gome's chairman last year.
Bribery and corruption are ongoing problems in China, says our correspondent, but Huang may have failed to cultivate the right contacts, fallen out with influential backers or simply pushed things too far for the authorities to turn a blind eye.
Huang appears to have brought several government officials down with him, with various convictions for accepting bribes apparently connected to his case.
Those convicted include Zheng Shaodong, the former assistant minister of public security, his deputy and government personnel in the southern cities of Guangdong and Shenzheng.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8688623.stm (accessed on 18 May 2010)


Serene Chow comment
This article is about a tycoon in china jailed for bribery. It is reported that this is not the only bribery case. Previously, I have heard from my teachers that in china, for things you want to get done, like application of the business to go through efficiently without any mishaps, you will need to bribe the authorities that are handling the processing of the application. When I heard my teacher told me this, I did not believe him until now. It is so unbelievable that most businesses in china would resort to bribery to ensure that their business is on the right track or even growing.
For this Chinese tycoon, he built a billion-dollar business from almost nothing into something big today. But from what he did now, I am starting to suspect that he also bribe officials to achieve the achievements that he has today. Personally, I feel that he deserves to be jailed because he did something that is illegal. When anyone has done something wrong, they should be punished for their wrongdoings. I hope that when he is in jail, he would know that the mistake that he made is very disastrous and also would not repeat what he has done. Also I hope that this situation would bring to a stop in people china to continue the bribery.