Zhang Keqiang got four years in jail and a $3.3M fine, but is still among China’s richest
More than one percent of China’s richest people have been prosecuted for economic crimes, according to a recent report, and the country’s real estate industry is the leading source of these charged, jailed or executed kingpins.
The Hurun Report, which became famous for publishing a list of China’s richest entrepreneurs, socialites and corporate bigwigs released a special report yesterday declaring that 98.9 percent of the uber-rich Chinese featured in its lists since 1999 had not been charged, arrested or otherwise prosecuted for economic crimes.
“The proportion of problem cases is much lower than many people think, and over the past five years has declined from 1.4 percent of all list members, to just 1.1 percent,” Hurun Report founder Rupert Hoogewerf said in a company statement.
Undermining Socialist Markets Doesn’t Pay
While the vast majority of the extremely wealthy have not run into trouble, of the 35 unfortunate souls who had run afoul of the law for economic reasons, 11 of those prosecuted were from the real estate industry. The second biggest source of miscreant tycoons in China was the finance industry, where nine people from Hurun’s list had been prosecuted. Manufacturing, always less glamorous than managing money or erecting buildings, finished a distant third, with only six rich list members running seriously afoul of the law.
The most popular crimes for China’s tycoon cases were undermining order in the country’s socialist markets, which felled 18 individuals; corruption and bribery, which brought down 12; and illegal use of assets, which tripped up nine naughty souls.
Among the wealthiest real estate investors to make the list of billionaire miscreants is Zhang Keqiang, who received a four-year sentence for bribery last year. Zhang, whose Huamei International Group is a major investor in state-run developer Poly Real Estate, was also fined the equivalent of $3.3 million for his misdeeds, but still managed to rank #309 on the Forbes Rich List in 2015, with a fortune estimated at $1 billion.
Too Much Wealth Could Be Bad For Your Health
In addition to the 35 prosecuted moguls, 10 individuals featured on the rich list in the past are either missing or have fled overseas, including Chen Jinyi, Chen Shunli, Guo Wengui, Li Yan, Liu Yingxia, Rebiya Kadeer, Songru Hua, Sun Liyong, Xu Zonglin and Fang Xiaojian.
And for those who might still be inclined to envy China’s richest individuals, the Hurun people point out that while nine people who have featured on their rich lists have since died of natural causes, another three have committed suicide and former Chongqing kingpin Liu Han was executed in February of this year for a long list of crimes.
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