Summary
23 April 2010
The trial of Huang Guangyu, who was once China's richest business person, has begun. He is accused of illegally using inside knowledge for his own financial gain.
Reporter:
Chris Hogg
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Report
Huang Guangyu built a billion dollar business from almost nothing. He dropped out of school and started selling batteries and radios on a market stall nearly 30 years ago. His business grew into a chain of more than thirteen hundred stores across China. Canny investments in property helped him build a fortune estimated to be in excess of 6.3 billion-dollars.
In 2008 he topped the Hurun Report's China rich list. A few months later he was arrested and he's been in detention ever since. He faces charges of insider trading and bribery. His wife and a business associate are on trial with him. A subsidiary of Gome, the firm he founded, is also accused of corporate bribery.
Huang Guangyu stepped down as the firm's chairman last year but is still its largest shareholder. The trial which will not be open to the media is expected to last three days.
Chris Hogg, 大象传媒 News, Shanghai
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Vocabulary
- dropped out of school
left school without finishing his course of study
- a market stall
a small open-air portable shop
- a chain
a group of shops or businesses which are owned by one person or group
- canny investments
cleverly putting money into a business in the hope of making profits in the future
- estimated to be in excess of
thought to be more than
- in detention
when someone is officially kept in a police station or prison without being first found guilty of doing anything wrong
- insider trading
the illegal buying and selling of company shares by someone who has special information because they are involved with the company
- bribery
the act of trying to get someone to do what you want them to do, usually something dishonest, by giving them money
- a subsidiary
a company which is owned by a larger company
- shareholder
someone who owns some of the equal parts into which the ownership of a company is divided, and who is awarded some of the profit (or loss) that the company makes
