70 Chinese listed firms affected by far-reaching anti-graft campaign so far
These firms either lost their top executives or were forced to restructure because of the nationwide fight against corruption
PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 2:28pm
UPDATED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 2:28pm
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China's former senior economic planning official Liu Tienan takes the stand in his corruption trial late last year. He was sentenced to life in prison. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese media has compiled the names of listed companies that lost top executives or underwent restructuring as a result of the country’s far-reaching anti-corruption campaign.
Last year, some 70 listed companies were implicated in President Xi Jinping’s fight after graft, The Beijing Times reported. Many of these firms were under the control of friends of formerly powerful Communist Party officials, it said.
Former PetroChina deputy general manager Li Hualin, who used to be secretary to disgraced security tsar Zhou Yongkang, was taken away for corruption investigation together with several other senior officials at the state-owned oil giant, the paper said.
Other listed companies in Sichuan, where Zhou was once party boss, also saw a number of their top executives come under probe for graft.
He Yan, a main shareholder at Chengdu-based Guoteng Electronics, was arrested on charges of misappropriation of funds early last year.
National Energy Administration director Liu Tienan was investigated and dismissed for corruption in 2013, and convicted on charges of bribery and sentenced to life in prison in December.
Before his downfall, Liu was engaged in business with at least five listed companies.
During his trial in Hebei province in September, Liu and his son, Liu Decheng, admitted to taking more than 35 million yuan (HK$44 million) in bribes from 2002 to 2012 when Liu held senior positions in economic planning.
In 2002 and 2003, Nanshan Group chairman Song Zuowen gave Liu 400,000 yuan for approving an alloy project. In 2005, Song paid Liu another 7.5 million yuan so that he would help him sign an alumina sales contract with a subsidiary of Aluminum Corporation of China.
Liu also took more than 16 million yuan from Zhejiang Hengyi Group chairman Qiu Jianlin for allowing him to develop a chemical plant.
Shares of several listed firms, including popular entertainment website LeTV fell after China’s graft authority announced that Ling Jihua, a one-time aide of former president Hu Jintao, had been put under investigation for corruption.
Ling and his brother Ling Wancheng set up the Beijing Huijin Lifang Investment Management Company in 2008, which they used to buy into seven companies, mostly in the technology sector. All the companies were listed between 2009 and 2014.
