Article author:
Associated Press
Beijing (AP) — A Chinese-born Canadian tycoon is being tried in China, the Canadian government said on Monday five years after he disappeared from Hong Kong during an anti-corruption crackdown.
Xiao Jianhua was scheduled to be tried on Monday, a government statement said. Canadian diplomats are "carefully monitoring the incident" and are providing unspecified services to Xiao's family. For privacy reasons, he said no other information would be disclosed.
Tomorrow Group founder Xiao disappeared from a hotel in Hong Kong in January 2017 amid a surge in charges of Chinese businessmen accused of bribery and other illegal acts. rice field. Authorities have never confirmed whether Xiao was detained or disclosed the possibility of prosecution.
Xiao's disappearance was caused by the ruling Communist Party's intensifying efforts to put pressure on those sought after in corruption cases to return from abroad and bring them to justice. rice field. It fueled fears that Beijing might kidnap foreigners. At that time, Chinese police were banned from working in Hong Kong, which has a different legal system.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has tightened control over Hong Kong since then, raising complaints that he violated the autonomy promised when the territory returned to China in 1997. The ruling party imposed the National Security Act in 2020 and imprisoned democratization-promoting activists.
In 2015, five people associated with a Hong Kong publisher who sold books criticizing Chinese leaders disappeared from the territory and reappeared on the mainland.
According to the Lake Jun report following the wealthy in China, Xiao was estimated at $ 6 billion before disappearing.
A Chinese securities regulator official said in February 2017 that foreign Chinese accused of illegal activity would be "captured and returned."
Hong Kong police investigated Xiao's disappearance and said the subject had crossed the border to the mainland. However, an ad in the Ming Pao newspaper in the name of Xiao of the same week denied that he was taken against his will.
