Missing Chinese billionaire helping investigation: company

Bao Fan, a Chinese billionaire who has been missing for two weeks, is “participating in an investigation” in China, his company said in a statement on Sunday.

His sudden disappearance raised concerns about a possible crackdown on the country’s financial services sector.

“The Board has learned that Mr. Bao is currently cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People’s Republic of China,” Hong Kong-listed China Renaissance said in its company filing.

The company did not offer details of the investigation and told the AFP news agency on Monday that it had no further comment.

Assperson said the company will release additional information when appropriate.

Who is Bao Fan?

Bao Fan, a leading technology trader in China, founded China Renaissance in 2005.

After its demise, shares of the Hong Kong-listed company fell as much as 29%, but were up 2.3% on Monday.

Last September, China Renaissance chairman Cong Lin was arrested following an investigation into his work at the financial leasing division of state-owned bank ICBC, according to financial news channel Caixin.

China targets tech companies

Over the past two years, China has witnessed an unprecedented number of crackdowns against big tech companies.

In 2017, Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua was allegedly kidnapped from his Hong Kong hotel room by undercover Chinese police officers. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption in August last year.

In 2020, Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, faced regulatory action when Chinese authorities launched an antitrust investigation into the company.

Regulators also halted the long-awaited IPO of fintech giant Ant Group, which was supposed to become the world’s largest.

ss/air (AFP, AP)