China accuses mining tycoon of leading criminal gang
Authorities on Thursday accused a Chinese mining tycoon of running a vast mafia that blackmailed, beat and gunned down rivals in daytime attacks, travelled in Rolls Royces and Ferraris and fostered ties to prosecutors and police with drug-fueled parties.
The high-level investigation centring on Liu Han, the former multimillionaire chairman of energy conglomerate Sichuan Hanlong Group with stakes in Australian and U.S. miners, and his brother Liu Wei and 34 associates has exposed ties between organized crime and Chinese officialdom.
The gang bust in southwestern China appears to be part of a sprawling shakeup of Sichuan province that has ensnared senior politicians and influential businessmen in a wide-ranging corruption crackdown launched by President Xi Jinping. Many of the Sichuan cases are believed linked to Zhou Yongkang, a former security czar who until recently was one of the country’s most powerful leaders, and is reportedly himself the subject of a graft investigation.
The Liu brothers have been charged with 15 crimes, including murder, assault and illegal detention, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The alleged gang’s criminal activities, dating to 1993, helped them amass 40 billion yuan ($6.5-billion) in assets with businesses in finance, energy, real estate and mining, Xinhua said.
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