Xiao Jianhua, who had set up a powerful financial group and was close to high dignitaries of the party, was accused of “severely endangering the country’s financial security”. With his condemnation, Xi Jinping reaffirms his power a few weeks before the holding of the XXᵉ Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
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Thirteen years’ imprisonment, 945,000 euros for a personal fine and no less than 8 billion euros fine for Tomorrow, his financial group: Friday August 19, the Shanghai court heavily condemned Xiao Jianhua , this Canadian of Chinese origin, nicknamed “the banker of the Red Princes”, whose fall will have been just as spectacular as the ascent.
Born in 1972 a teacher father, Xiao Jianhua joined the University of Beijing from the age of 14. President of the Official Association of Students, he opposed the Movement of Students of the Tiananmen square in 1989. The power will remember it. From the 1990s, Xiao Jianhua began to sell computers Dell and IBM near the campus of his former university. He also works for Microsoft. In a few years, he raised an estimated fortune at more than 100 million euros.
Thanks to his relations, he then created an investment fund, one of the shareholders of which is none other than the University of Beijing, placing money from rich Chinese in various sectors, such as finance, the Real estate, technology or energy, notably taking advantage of the wave of privatizations at the turn of the century. It is partly thanks to his investments that Zeng Qinghong and Jia Qinglin, two members between 2003 and 2008 of the Standing Committee of the Party Political Bureau, the highest circle of power, owe their fortune.
When Xi Jinping’s power in power in 2013, his sister and brother-in-law preferring to separate from their own assets, Xiao Jianhua bought their shares in an investment company for 2.4 Millions of dollars (around 1.8 million euros), according to the New York Times. In 2016, Xiao was classified 32
removed in Hong Kong in 2017 2>
But the wind turns with Xi Jinping and its fight against corruption. Informed of an imminent arrest, Xiao Jianhua moved to the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong, theoretically autonomous territory. But, in 2017, as the XIX e Party congresses, Chinese power hardens its campaign. As revealed by the hotel surveillance cameras, a group of men enter its suite on the night of January 26 to 27, 2017 and then came out a few hours later, taking Xiao Jianhua to a wheelchair and the head covered with ‘a bag. He will pass the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen during the day of the 27th before disappearing in continental China. An abduction ? He “rests abroad” said a press release from Tomorrow Group. For five and a half years, Xiao Jianhua will no longer give any news, until its reappearance on July 4 in Shanghai court.
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