Billionaire Xiao Jianhua
In the most glaring lesson yet to the country's upstart
nouveau-riche oligarchs, a Chinese court has sentenced
Xiao Jianhua, the billionaire founder of Tomorrow Group known for managing assets for descendants of prominent Chinese leaders, to 13 years in prison, and slapped the conglomerate with an unprecedented fine of 55 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), culminating the dramatic break-up of
China's largest privately owned financial empire after a five-year investigation.
The Canadian-Chinese tycoon, who disappeared from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong in 2017, was found guilty of illegally collecting public deposits, using entrusted assets in breach of trust, illegally using funds and bribery, according to a statement by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court on Friday, the
SCMP reported. Xiao was also personally fined 6.5 million yuan.
"Tomorrow Group and Xiao Jianhua's criminal acts
severely damaged the financial management order, which severely risked the national financial safety, and severely encroached the professional integrity of public servants," said the Shanghai court in its ruling on Friday. "They should be strictly punished based on the law."
Comment: If the markets were free, then the void left by BA would be filled by another financer, however it's clear that the markets will not be allowed to find equilibrium of supply and demand because the government has stated quite clearly that, by 2030, the West will craft policy in such a way that combustion vehicles will be a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.