Chinese tycoon Ren Zhiqiang jailed on corruption charges
Ren was investigated by Chinese Communist Party on discipline charges
Ren
Zhiqiang, the former chairman of Huayuan, a state-owned real estate group, was
sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption, bribery, and embezzlement of
public funds. He was also fined 4.2million yuan (£484,485) fine.
According to Chinese government statement Ren "voluntarily and truthfully confessed all his crimes". The verdict also accused him of abusing power at Huayuan.
Some experts and commentators are linking this sentence with the internal struggle at the top. Ren was not a outsider but considered in the inner circle of the CPC before he fell out with president Xi. He was considered more on the right pro-business.
Back in
March, the retired property executive went missing after writing a critical
essay about the COVID-19 outbreak.
His essay took aim at a speech Xi made on 23 February, and said it revealed a “crisis of governance” in the party without mentioning Xi by name.
A translated version of the essay said, ‘This epidemic has revealed the fact that the Party and government officials only care about protecting their own interests, and the monarch only cares about protecting their interests and core position,’ Ren wrote, without naming Xi.
He added:
‘Standing there was not an emperor showing off his new clothes, but a clown
stripped of clothes who insisted on being an emperor.’
“The reality
shown by this epidemic is that the party defends its own interests, the
government officials defend their own interests, and the monarch only defends
the status and interests of the core.”
In 2016, Ren
was put on probation for a year as punishment for his public criticism of
government policy. His social media accounts, which had tens of millions of
followers, were shut down.
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