Coal tycoon probed over mafia activities
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, August 27, 2014
A rags-to-riches tycoon in north China's Shanxi Province is being questioned by police over alleged mafia-type activities and money laundering.
![Zhang Xinming.[File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20140827/7427ea210acc15677b7a07.jpg "Zhang Xinming.[File photo]") |
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Zhang Xinming.[File photo] |
Zhang Xinming, head of Shanxi Jinye Coal Coking Group, was taken away on August 4, former journalist Li Jianjun told the Beijing News.
However, police in provincial capital Taiyuan did not confirm this, added the newspaper.
The 51-year-old — once the richest man in Shanxi — could not be reached on his mobile phone. His lawyer and press officer said they had not been able to contact him for some time.
Zhang was born into a peasant family in rural Taiyuan and worked as a laborer after not completing high school.
In the mid-1990s, Zhang became involved in the coal transportation business and made his "first pot of gold," he told the Beijing News in an earlier interview.
In 2001, he founded Jinye and by 2005 was ranked seventh on the Hurun China Energy List, with a fortune of 1 billion yuan (US$162.53 million).
But in 2010, Zhang faced online allegations of illegal and reckless mining, speculating on coal resources and extortion backed by gangs of heavies.
An official probe was carried out following a tip-off but Taiyuan police concluded that Zhang was innocent.
However, as wider investigations into coal industry corruption took place, Zhang fled overseas using fake ID, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported in 2010.
He is said to have visited Pacific archipelago Vanuatu and other countries using a false passport.
The national fugitive database showed that he was wanted by police in Henan Province and in May 2012 the Jinling Evening News reported that Zhang had handed himself in.
Days afterward, Zhang posted a statement on Beijing-based Legal Evening News to defend himself against what he said were false reports.
Li told the Beijing News that the investigation against Zhang was also linked to the state-owned China Resources Holdings Co, which is mired in a corruption scandal.
It was reported that China Resources Power Holdings Co Ltd — a flagship Hong Kong-listed company of CR — and Jinye Group set up the company Taiyuan China Resources Coal Co Ltd in 2010. The same year Taiyuan CR acquired Jinye's assets at the cost of 11.7 billion yuan.
In 2013, the Economic Information Daily accused the then CR Chairman Song Lin and other executives of graft and dereliction of duty in overpaying 7.9 billion yuan when buying coal mines in Shanxi.
Zhang was suspected of "cashing in his assets" from the acquisition because of his ties with Song, the Beijing News reported.
Song was replaced in April this year after China's disciplinary body said he was suspected of serious violations in discipline and law.
In an interview with the Beijing News in May, Zhang said that his business required dealings with officials.
"It's risky to contact government officials, but if you don't, you can't do anything," he said.
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