Kidnapped Billionaire Sentenced to 13 Years Jail

Xiao has been sentenced to 13 years in prison

Big news coming out of China with billionaire Xiao Jianhua, 50, sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzlement and bribery in a court in Shanghai. His company, Tomorrow Group, was fined more than US$8 billion.

Five years ago around Chinese New Year, there was a bizarre story that Xiao, who lived in the Four Seasons Hong Kong apartments, was visited by Chinese agents, who quickly subdued his female bodyguards and he was taken out by a wheelchair with a bag covering his head. 

Xiao had close connections with political elite

The hotel has surveillance video of the time but refuses to reveal the footage.

He was whisked across the mainland border and never heard from again -- until July 4, when Canadian diplomats in China reported Xiao, who is a Canadian citizen, was standing trial. The diplomats were refused entry into the courtroom to attend the trial.

AFP reports Xiao and his firm were found guilty of "illegally absorbing public deposits, breaching trust in the use of entrusted property... [and] illegal use of funds," a statement from the Shanghai court said. It also said Tomorrow Holdings was guilty of the "crime of bribery".

It added that Xiao and his firm had "severely violated the financial management order" and "hurt state financial security".

Xi's family was apparently one of Xiao's clients

The court said Xiao and his company pleaded guilty, and had cooperated with the authorities, and so their punishment was mitigated. Perhaps Xiao's jail sentence may be shorter than 13 years?

Xiao was one of China's richest people, apparently with close connections to the political elite of the ruling Communist Party, including President Xi Jinping's family.

Perhaps he knew too much?

By 2016, Xiao's net worth was an estimated US$6 billion, according to Hurun Report, which ranks China's wealthiest people.

Xiao's kidnapping in 2017 was shocking because it was so brazen, and that it targeted wealthy people, not just businessmen like the Causeway Bay booksellers, who made money selling books that uncovered the unsavoury side of Chinese officials. 

Still no clarity on verdict, how Xiao made billions

The trial ends without any reporters able to attend so it is not clear how Xiao ran afoul of senior party leaders and why such a severe punishment.

Xiao will be over 60 when he gets out...