BEIJING,Nov. 30 — He once was one of China’srichest and most politically connected businessmen, a real estate tycoon whohad started out selling noodles. But today, Zhou Zhengyi was sentenced to 16years in prison, the latest powerful Shanghaifigure to fall from grace.
Mr. Zhou, 45,stood inside Shanghai Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court as a judgepronounced him guilty on five charges, including misappropriation of funds,bribery and forging tax receipts, state media reported. His company also wasfined 3.35 million yuan, or about $450,000.
Mr. Zhou’scareer arc spoke to the nexus of money and political power in China, especially in Shanghai, the financial capital. He wasclosely connected to Shanghai’sformer Communist Party boss, Chen Liangyu, who was sacked last year in asweeping corruption investigation ordered by President Hu Jintao.
The corruptioninvestigation struck directly at the Shanghai political machine, which waslinked to the former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, and had resisted manyof the policies put forward by Mr. Hu and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Mr. Chen, the sackedparty boss, was a protégé of Mr. Jiang, himself a former Shanghai party leader.
Mr. Zhou, theproperty magnate, owed his rise to the Shanghaiclique. During the 1990s, Mr. Zhou became one of the city’s biggest real estatedevelopers as the city was in the midst of a stunning run of growth. By 2002,Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $320 million.
He wasconvicted on financial charges and sentenced to three years in prison. By thetime Mr. Zhou was released in May 2006, Mr. Hu had launched a new corruptioninvestigation ultimately aimed at Mr. Chen. Five months later, Mr. Zhou wasdetained again.
Investigatorsfrom Beijing concluded that Shanghai officials had diverted 3.7 billionyuan, or about $494 million, from the city’s social security fund to investmentcorporations controlled by well-connected businessmen. Another tycoon, ZhangRongkun, once ranked No. 16 on the Forbes list of China’s richest, has already beenarrested on charges linked to the social security scandal, state mediareported.
