A Chinese-born Canadian billionaire, Xiao Jianhua has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined his Tomorrow Holdings Co conglomerate a record $8.1 billion (55.03 billion yuan).
The Shanghai court said Xiao was personally fined almost $1 Billion (6.5 million yuan) for the crimes.
According to the court, from 2001 to 2021, Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings gave shares, real estate, cash and other assets to government officials totalling more than 680 million yuan, to evade financial supervision and seek illegitimate interests.
Delineating on the development, the court said from 2004, Xiao and Tomorrow controlled multiple financial institutions and internet financial platforms, including the failed Baoshang Bank, via multiple layers of indirect shareholders and anonymous ownership.
Also, it said Xiao used the illegal gains for the acquisition of financial institutions, securities trading and overseas investment. However, the court acknowledged his attempts to make amends.
The court said “Xiao Jianhua has taken commendable actions, so he was given a mitigated punishment in accordance with the law”.
It could be recalled that in July 2020, nine of the group’s related institutions were seized by Chinese regulators as part of a crackdown on risks posed by financial conglomerates.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, when asked about Xiao’s right to consular access as a Canadian citizen during a regular briefing, said because Chinese law does not recognise dual nationality, Xiao was not entitled to such rights.
Reports have it that Xiao, known to have links to China’s Communist Party elite, has not been seen in public since 2017 after he was investigated amid a state-led conglomerate crackdown.
