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China banking tycoon Bao Fan ‘cooperating with investigation’

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2 years ago

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BEIJING, CHINA — Chinese billionaire Bao Fan is “cooperating in an investigation” by authorities, his company said, almost two weeks after his disappearance sparked fears of a renewed crackdown on the nation’s financial services industry.

The China Renaissance chairman rose to fame as a key player in the emergence of some of the country’s biggest tech giants, supervising blockbuster IPOs and a landmark merger between major ride-hailing firm Didi and its top competitor at the time, Kuaidi Dache.

His Hong Kong-listed firm said in a filing dated Sunday that it was now “aware that Mr Bao is currently cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities” in mainland China.

“The Company will duly cooperate and assist with any lawful request from the relevant PRC authorities, if and when made,” it added, referring to the country by its official name: the People’s Republic of China.

The firm did not provide further details about the nature of the investigation, nor did it reply to an AFP request for comment.

Shares in the company slumped as much as 50 per cent at one point following the February 16 announcement that he was missing, before clawing back to sit at around 30 per cent down.

While yet to recover from that slump, the firm was up 1.97 per cent in early trading on Monday.

Powerhouse

China Renaissance has developed into a global financial institution since its founding in 2005, with more than 700 employees and offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York.

The group has supervised the IPOs of several domestic tech giants, including leading e-commerce firm JD.com, as well as the 2015 merger between two of the country’s top ride-hailing apps.

That same year, Bao appeared on Bloomberg Market’s 50 Most Influential list, with the financial newswire writing the “fast-talking” banker had the ability to “arrange practically anything in China’s vibrant tech scene”.

But an aggressive crackdown on alleged corruption by President Xi Jinping has since clipped the wings of many of China’s leading financiers and major tech companies.

According to financial news outlet Caixin, China Renaissance president Cong Lin was taken into custody last September as authorities launched a probe into his work at the financial leasing unit of state-owned bank ICBC.

And in 2017, Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua received a 13-year jail sentence under corruption charges last August.

Known to hold close ties to top Chinese Communist Party leaders, the billionaire was reportedly abducted from his Hong Kong hotel room by plainclothes police officers from Beijing.

At the time of his arrest, Xiao was one of China’s richest men, with an estimated fortune of $6 billion.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has also seen his fortune fall by around half to an estimated $25 billion after regulators pulled the plug on what would have been the world’s biggest-ever IPO — that of fintech giant Ant Group.

A reshuffle of Ant’s shareholding structure announced in January saw Ma, who has since receded from public view, cede control of the megafirm he founded in 2014.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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