Wu Zhong of the Asia Times reports on the wide reach of corruption in last year’s Gome case:
It was inevitable in today’s China that some corrupt officials would be exposed as the result of an investigation into a rags-to-riches tycoon suspected of economic crimes, but few suspected that previously revered police officials would be implicated.
[…] No sooner had Huang Guangyu, the former chairman of China’s largest consumer electronics chain retailer Gome Group, been detained by Beijing police in mid-November 2008 for alleged “stock market manipulation”, than speculation grew over how many officials would be implicated in his case and how senior they would be.
On January 19, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Zheng Shaodong, director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Economic Criminal Investigation Bureau, and his deputy Xiagn Huaizhu, were two of the police officials under investigation. Zheng was then also an assistant to the Minister of Public Security and thus a vice minister level police officer.
According to the Hong Kong newspaper, Apple Daily, former Gome chairman Huang Guangyu attempted suicide while in detention. Jane Macartney of the Times Online reports:
One of the richest men in China has attempted suicide after nearly six months in detention while under investigation for alleged manipulation of share prices.
Huang Guangyu, a billionaire who made his fortune in electronics, made the suicide attempt a few days ago but was found in time and was recovering, the Apple Daily in Hong Kong said.
The attempted suicide could not be confirmed with Chinese officials, the report said.
