China's former richest man sentenced to life

Beijing: A Chinese appliance dealer who rose to become the country's richest man was today sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined USD 88.3 million after being convicted of insider trading and corporate bribery.

Huang, also known as Wong Kwong-yu, was convicted by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court with also ordered confiscation worth 200 million yuan of his assets.

Huang built Gome Electronics as the nation's biggest appliance retailer and was once estimated to be worth USD 6.3 billion. He also ran Beijing Pengrun Real Estate Development Company.

Huang's crimes were found to be extremely serious, but showed leniency because he had admitted guilt and assisted with the criminal investigation, the court said in its judgment.

Forty-one-year old Huang, who rose from rags to riches built a billion dollar business from nothing after dropping out from school.

Within few years he managed to set up a chain of more than 1,300 stores selling domestic appliance which became the largest in the country. Before his arrest in 2008, he topped the Hurun Report's China rich list.

The main allegation against him was that he manipulated share trading for two listed companies - Sanlian Commercial Co and Beijing Centergate Technologies Co, official Xinhua news agency reported.

Gome Appliances Co, a mainland subsidiary of the firm Huang founded, was also accused of corporate bribery. He stepped down as Gome's chairman last year.

The procuratorate has charged Huang with illegal foreign exchange trading via Hong Kong in 2007 and insider trading of Shenzhen-listed Zhongguancun stocks.

He was also accused of offering bribes of 4.56 million yuan (about USD 6.67 lakh) to a number of officials.

Huang's wife, Du Juan, and one of his business partners, Xu Zhongmin, were also charged with insider trading.

His two firms, Gome and Pengrun, were fined 5 million yuan (735,000 US dollars) and 1.2 million yuan respectively for giving bribes, the court statement said.

Huang was found to be liable for the bribes given by the two companies as he was personally involved or directed others to do so, said the statement.

Huang was also convicted of illegally trading 822 million Hong Kong dollars from September to November 2007, Xinhua reported.