One of this city's renowned property tycoons has confessed to local police that he was behind an attack on one of his business partners, the Caijing magazine reported yesterday.

Zhou Group chairman Zhou Xiaodi recently confessed to masterminding the attack over a land dispute.

On November 6, Yin Minghua, 51, who jointly owns land covering 17 million sq m in the city's Pudong District with Zhou, was allegedly attacked and injured severely, the report said.

He was allegedly assaulted that afternoon on the way back from Pudong to a destination downtown. A truck rammed Yin's car from the back, and when Yin got off to check the damage, three people armed with iron batons set upon him. Yin is reportedly in critical condition.

The authorities arrested Zhou within 10 days. The tycoon is also being investigated for contract fraud, embezzlement of company assets and bribery, the report said.

No motive has been reported, but the attack is believed to be linked to a land dispute.

In 2001, Zhou succeeded in a bid for the land use rights for an area in Pudong at a price of 700 million yuan ($95 million), but did not have enough money to pay. The land is expected to be used to accommodate residents relocated because of Shanghai's World Expo in 2010.

Zhou is said to have invited the Shanghai Yangguang Group, Shanghai Junyi Property Development Company and Xizi Group - of which Yin Minghua is the chairman - to work with him on the project.

But reports said Zhou kept delaying registering ownership of the land.

(China Daily December 25, 2007)