From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Five years ago, the tycoon Xiao Jianhua mysteriously disappeared from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong.
Now, Xiao, a Chinese Canadian billionaire, has been put on trial. The Chinese authorities have not released details of the charges against Xiao, once a trusted financier to Beijing’s political elite. Over time, Xiao built a fortune worth as much as $5.8 billion, thanks in part to his high-level political connections.
For years, there was no official word about his whereabouts. The secrecy surrounding Xiao’s case may be related in part to the sensitivity of the information he probably holds, says The New York Times.
Analysis: Xiao’s case epitomizes the ruling Communist Party’s efforts to rein in an earlier era of freewheeling capitalism and crack down on the debt-fueled excess that drove China’s recent economic growth.
Background: At one point, Xiao owned stakes in more than 30 Chinese financial institutions. But Tomorrow Group, the holding company behind Xiao’s sprawling business empire, eventually became so big that it threatened the stability of China’s financial system.
Context: Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption has targeted other tycoons. Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of a financial firm, was executed last year. Xi also sought to rein in the country’s powerful tech titans, including Jack Ma, the charismatic founder of the e-commerce firm Alibaba.
