The founder of China’s largest home appliance chain, once the country’s richest man, went on trial today amid some of the tightest security seen at a Beijing court.
Huang Guangyu, 41, former head of giant chain Gome Electronics, faces charges of insider trading, bribery and other business offences. Also on trial with him are his wife, Du Juan, and the former chairman of a property development company that he controlled.
Famed for his rags-to-riches tale, Mr Huang has been in detention since November 2008 – the year in which he topped the Hurun Rich List of China’s wealthiest for the third time with a fortune estimated at $6.3 billion (£4 billion).
He became the country’s richest man in 2004. It took prosecutors until February this year finally to bring charges against him.
The man who once drove a large Mercedes arrived at the court in a prison van shortly before 10am.
Security was so tight that only family and one journalist from the state-controlled Xinhua news agency were allowed into the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court. Pens, paper, cameras and mobile telephones were confiscated from those entering the court.
Prosecutors had collected so much evidence in the case that a series of vans were required to bring the paperwork to the court.
Mr Huang, who faces up to 20 years in prison, disputed the evidence, a Chinese website claimed.
He is suspected of manipulating trading in two companies listed on mainland stock exchanges, the Securities Regulatory Commission has said.
The son of poor devout Christian peasant farmers from southern China, Mr Huang built his nationwide chain of several hundred stores from a single street stall selling radios and watches in Beijing in the 1980s when the Communist Party allowed private entrepreneurs to do business.
He became known as the “Price Butcher” for his cut-price merchandise.
However, his high profile left him vulnerable in a system where the system continues to favour state-owned firms and the status of entrepreneurs remains uncertain.
A string of newly rich real estate developers and private businessmen have been snared in corruption cases after making their fortune in a country where bribing officials is often necessary to get ahead.
Mr Huang’s case has netted several senior officials, including the Mayor of the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, on the border with Hong Kong, as well as a deputy minister of police.
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