English > Politics&Law>Head of Yunnan Copper Group Arrested
Head of Yunnan Copper Group Arrested
09-19 15:31 Caijing Magazine
Yunan Copper Group's former CEO, Zou Shaolu, and two of his aids have been arrested for accepting as much as 35 million yuan in kickbacks.
By staff reporter Wang Heyan
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| Zou Shaolu |
The former chairman and CEO of Yunnan Copper Group Ltd., Zou Shaolu, was arrested for corruption and will soon face a public trial, according a recent statement issued by Yunan Communist Party disciplinary agency.
Zou and his two major aides, Yu Weiping and Wang Jianwei, stand accused of accepting as much as 35 million yuan in bribes during the time Zou headed the state-owned mining company.
Zou's arrest brought closure to a host of rumors about Yunnan Copper's CEO that had been circulating since late last year. In November 2007, Zou's aids Wang and Yu were taken into custody by Party authorities, prompting speculation about Zou's own downfall. In January, the rumors were corroborated when an official replaced Zou as the chairman of Yunnan Copper. But the final confirmation came with this week announcement.
According to the prosecutor, Zou and Yu accepted money for favors when selling equity and land of subsidiaries of Yunnan Copper. They likewise pocketed bribes when granted funds for development projects, sold products or hosted public bids for engineering projects.
In addition to cash bribes worth more than 10 million yuan, Zou allegedly accepted stocks from people currying his favor, gave the green light to projects that drained national assets, kept extramarital relationships with two women, and hired prostitutes during his many overseas trips.
Yu Weiping, Zou's right hand man and former deputy manager of Yunnan Copper Group, allegedly took more than 22.6 million yuan in bribes. He is also accused of causing the loss of national assets and taking an illegal, additional income.
The former CEO of Yunnan Copper Real Estate Ltd., Wang Jianwei, 43, is accused of channeling more than 1 million yuan of construction funds into his own pocket, and of accepting more than 2.15 million yuan in kickbacks.
Caijing learned that wives of Zou and Yu were also arrested for their involvement in the case.
Born in 1952, Zou began his career as a factory worker in the southwest of Yunnan and spent the next 20 years in the non-ferrous metal industry, eventually becoming the chairman and party secretary of Yunnan Copper Group in 1996. Under Zou's reign, Yunnan Cooper had one of its subsidiaries listed in Shenzhen, which posted excellent performance eight years in a row.
In October 2007, Yunnan Copper Group issued extra stocks to boost its capital base from 35 billion yuan to 42.5 billion yuan. That same year, the company recorded sales revenue of 40.6 billion yuan, making it the first industrial group in Yunnan to surpass the 40-billion-yuan milestone.
The provincial disciplinary agency's recent statement cites a long list of malpractice on the part of Zou and his accomplices that effectively reduced Yunnan Copper to a state of chaos. Management is messy, cooperate governance is non-existent, subsidiary companies are growing out of control, state-assets are heavily diluted, loans and equities of state-owned companies are transferred to private companies, financial statements are cooked, and the company's capital backbone is facing risk of collapse, according to the announcement.
Caijing learned that all three of the men arrested had their party membership stripped and now are facing legal charges.
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[ICP License: 090027] IDC License:[B2-20040250] Advertising Business License:[京海工商广字第0407号] 京公网安备110105005607号
Copyright by Caijing. All Rights Reserved