Disposal of kingpin's assets to begin
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07/10/2001
China will soon start disposing of the huge assets of the Yuan Hua Group, run by smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing, it was reported yesterday.The assets built up by Yuan Hua in the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen are expected to be disposed of later this year, Wen Wei Po said in a report citing authoritative sources in Xiamen. The sources said investigators were "shocked" by the huge amount of assets owned by Lai and his group. Property assets in Xiamen alone were worth tens of billion of yuan, including the three billion yuan (US$366 million) 88-storey-high Yuan Hua International Centre, sources said. But Lai and his group have enormous debts to settle, including 30 billion yuan (US$3.66 billion) in customs tax evasion fines, the newspaper said. The disposal of the assets of Lai and his group will be done in "strict accordance with the law - fair and open, either through auctions, restructuring or other methods," the sources said. Lai and his wife Tsang Mingna are currently seeking refugee status in Canada after fleeing there in 1999. Chinese authorities have accused Lai of masterminding a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring that bribed hundreds of government officials. Beijing has been seeking Lai's extradition. China Daily news
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