Crime and politics

18 May 2010 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

Huang Guangyu, once China’s richest man, got 14 years and a big fine for insider trading and bribery. That is in line with recent punishments for corporate corruption. But done sparingly, bashing greed also has political uses in fastgrowing countries with yawning wealth gaps.

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Huang Guangyu, formerly China's richest man, received a 14year sentence for illegal business dealings, insider trading and corporate bribery. He was also fined 600 million yuan ($88 million) and received an order for the seizure of 200 million yuan of assets.

Two further fines were given to Huang's firms GOME and Pengrun, though Huang was made liable for these on the assumption that he was personally involved in the associated bribes. He was also convicted of illegally trading company shares in 2007.

Huang bribed or instigated others to bribe five government officials with 4.6 million yuan in cash and property from 2006 to 2008, a statement from the Beijing court said. He was listed as China's richest man by the Hurun Report on the nation's wealth in 2004, 2005 and 2008.

China's wealth gap has reached alarming levels, according to governmentaffiliated researchers last week. The researchers from the National Development and Reform Commission said the country's Gini coefficient, an economic measure of inequality, had risen to 0.47 twice what it was in 1983.

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