Guo Wengui

Guo Wengui

Guo in April 2017
Born (1967-02-02) 2 February 1967
Shen County, Shandong province, China
Nationality Emirati (self claim)[1][2]
Occupation Businessman
Known for Beijing Zenith Holdings

Guo Wengui (Chinese: 郭文贵; born 2 February 1967), also known under the names Guo Wen Gui, Guo Haoyun (Chinese: 郭浩云) and Miles Kwok,[3] is a Chinese billionaire businessman turned political activist who controls Beijing Zenith Holdings (via proxy people),[4] and other assets.[5][6] At the peak of his career, he was 73rd among the richest in China.

Guo, long prominent in real estate development and investment circles, came to fame in 2015 after a lengthy investigative report by Caixin media, controlled by Hu Shuli, was released, detailing Guo's political connections, business dealings, and hard-ball tactics against former rivals. The piece became one of the most read investigative articles in the history of modern Chinese journalism.

As of 2017, Guo is in self-imposed exile in New York City, where he owns a $US68 million apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, overlooking Central Park. He has continued to conduct a political agenda to bring attention to alleged corruption in the Chinese political system from his New York home.[7]

Biography

Guo was born in Shen County, Shandong province, People's Republic of China. He is the seventh of eight children in the family.[8] He began his business career in Zhengzhou, before moving to Beijing to secure various construction deals during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His most famous asset was the Pangu Plaza, an Olympic torch-shaped condominium residence built prior to the Beijing games.[3]

In 2015, Caixin media head Hu Shuli published a lengthy investigative piece on Guo and his associates. Guo responded by claiming Hu defamed him and responded with a set of personal accusations against Hu. Guo was believed to have left China sometime in 2015; since then he is believed to have been shuttling between Europe and the United States. He opened a Twitter account in early 2017, frequently criticizing individuals within the Chinese establishment. He has reserved particular scorn for He Jintao (not to be confused with former general secretary Hu Jintao), the son of former Central Commission for Discipline Inspection secretary He Guoqiang.[3]

Many officials with whom he was said to have ties have fallen under the dragnet of the anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping, including Ma Jian, the former deputy director of Chinese National Security Bureau, and Zhang Yue, the former Political and Legal Affairs Secretary of Hebei. While generally supportive of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Guo has characterized parts of the corruption campaign as a political witch hunt.[3]

Guo is a member of U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and Mark's Club in Mayfair, London.[3][9]

Beijing Zenith Holdings

Beijing Zenith Holdings was a company that owned by Li Lin and Jiang Yuehua (in 2013) via two corporate entities (Chinese: 郑州浩云实业有限公司, 郑州浩天实业有限公司).[4] The company acquired a minority stake in PKU Healthcare from state-owned Founder Group's PKU Healthcare Group.[4] However, Beijing Zenith Holdings failed to pay the PKU Healthcare Group after the shares were already transferred, thus Beijing Zenith Holdings borrowed the money from PKU Resources Group Holdings, sister company of PKU Healthcare Group to finalize the payment. All three companies were fined by China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2016.[10]

Zenith Holdings also acquired a minority stake in Founder Securities by subscribing the new shares.[11]

Allegations of corruption among Chinese leaders

On 27 March 2017, Guo accepted an interview with the BBC. [12]

On 29 May 2017, Guo, in a YouTube video, delivered a lengthy set of allegations against Wang Qishan, the anti-corruption chief of the Communist Party of China.[13][14]

Criminal charges

In June 2017, staffs of Guo's another investment vehicle, Pangu Investment, were charged for scamming banks on loans. The staff members accused all said they were under the orders of Guo.[15]

Civil lawsuits

Several companies sued Guo's Pangu Investment and Zenith Holdings in the civil court of the United States, in order to reclaim the non-performing loan the companies lent to Guo.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ How China Managed to Muffle the Voice of America
  2. ↑ BBC: China says Interpol seeks arrest of tycoon Guo Wengui
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Forsythe, Michael (4 April 2017). "As Trump Meets Xi at Mar-a-Lago, There’s a ‘Wild Card’". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "简式权益变动报告书（三）" (PDF). Southwest Pharmaceutical (in Chinese). Shenzhen Stock Exchange. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  5. ↑ http://weekly.caixin.com/2015-03-27/100795235.html
  6. ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-25/death-threats-dawn-raids-kindled-by-china-anti-corruption-drive
  7. ↑ Michael Forsythe and Alexandra Stevenson (30 May 2017). "The Billionaire Gadfly in Exile Who Stared Down Beijing". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2017. The biggest political story in China this year isn’t in Beijing. It isn’t even in China. It’s centered at a $68 million apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan.
  8. ↑ "【特稿】郭文贵围猎高官记：从结盟到反目". Caixin. 25 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Forsythe, Michael (15 April 2017). "Greater Corruption in China? A Billionaire Says He Has Evidence". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "关于收到中国证监会《行政处罚事先告知书》的公告" (PDF). PKU Healthcare (in Chinese). Shenzhen Stock Exchange. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "关于核准方正证券股份有限公司向北京政泉控股有限公司等发行股份购买资产的批复" (in Chinese). China Securities Regulatory Commission. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "BBC interviewed Guo Wengui". Mingjing Television. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Guo Wengui The live broadcast on May 29 to announce that I am fine About Wang Qishan". YouTube. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Billionaire Gadfly in Exile Who Stared Down Beijing". The New York Times. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  15. ↑ "郭文贵爆料走入司法程序 说好的“推墙”呢？". BBC 中文网 (in Chinese). The British Broadcasting Corporation. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "陸企告郭文貴追討5千萬美元案 紐約律師解釋". Metro (Hong Kong) (in Chinese). 15 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
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