Chinese mining tycoon Liu Han has been executed after being sentenced to death in May 2014 for “leading mafia-style crime and murder”, state media say.
Liu Han’s younger brother, Liu Wei and three other associates were also executed, Xinhua said, after China’s top court signed off on the move.
The former chairman of Hanlong Group is believed to have had links to former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is currently being investigated.
The Hanlong Group is a major private conglomerate based in Sichuan province, involved in multiple industries including mining, telecommunications and chemicals.
As head of the company, Liu Han was both rich and very influential.
Xinhua said the company, which had been “harbored and indulged by government officials, had illegally monopolized the gaming business in Guanghan City in Sichuan province, tyrannized local people and seriously harmed the local economic and social order”.
In recent months, several top officials from Sichuan province have come under scrutiny.
Sichuan was a power base of Zhou Yongkang, China’s former domestic security chief who is now the subject of a corruption probe.
Zhou Yongkang was the party secretary in Sichuan before becoming head of China’s public security ministry in 2003.
He was arrested in December 2014, the latest and by far the most senior figure to be handed over to prosecutors as part of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption.
Official reports do not specifically link Liu Han’s case with Zhou Yongkang.
Liu Han was an associate of Zhou Bin, Zhou Yongkang’s son, the South China Morning Post reported.
[youtube PnwIn8hoV5U 650]
Mining tycoon Liu Han, believed to have links to China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang, has been sentenced to death.
According to Xinhua agency, a Hubei court has found Liu Han and his brother Liu Wei guilty of “organizing and leading mafia-style crime and murder”.
The two men were among a group of 36 people charged with similar crimes.
Mining tycoon Liu Han is believed to have links to China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang
Liu Han’s sentencing is believed to be part of a wider corruption crackdown linked to ZhouYongkang’s network.
The court verdict stated that, among other things, Liu Han and his group had “in an organized fashion obtained financial gains via illegal activities”.
They had also on multiple occasions “committed murder, harm and illegal detention”.
The verdict stated they relied on “the cover-ups and collusion of government employees” to illegally control gaming machines in Guanghan in Sichuan province.
Liu Han, who is the former head of mining conglomerate Sichuan Hanlong Group, was ranked 148th on Forbes‘ list of the richest Chinese business people in 2012.
His former company once tried to take over Australian miner Sundance Resources Ltd.
Chinese state media said previously that the Sichuan-based gang had had strong political ties that played a role in Liu Han’s appointment as a delegate in Sichuan’s political advisory body.
In recent months, several top officials from Sichuan province linked to Zhou Yongkang have come under scrutiny.
Zhou Yongkang was the party secretary in Sichuan province before becoming head of China’s Public Security Ministry in 2003.
In April, China announced it had removed from office Guo Yongxiang, a former Sichuan vice-governor, and that Sichuan’s former deputy party chief Li Chuncheng was being investigated for bribery.
Speculation has swirled for months that Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for corruption, although none of the rumors have been confirmed officially.
