Yuan Baojing
Yuan Baojing (simplified Chinese: 袁宝璟; traditional Chinese: 袁寶璟; pinyin: Yuán Bǎojǐng; 16 February 1966 – 17 March 2006) was a Chinese billionaire from Liaoyang, Liaoning province. He was the president of the Beijing-based Jianhao Group. He was convicted of murder and executed in March 2006, after what appeared to be a feud with Sichuan businessman Liu Han (who was executed nine years later).
Biography
Yuan was raised in a peasant family and made a fortune in Beijing. Upon losing CNY 100 million in futures trading, he believed that his loss resulted from manipulation of the broker by Liu Han, a businessman from Sichuan. He offered a former police officer, Wang Xing, CNY 160,000 to murder Liu. Wang in turn hired a contract killer named Li Haiyang. In 1997 February, Li shot at Liu twice in a Sichuan hotel but missed, and was sentenced to life in prison. Wang proceeded to blackmail Yuan, who, with his brother Yuan Baoqi, hired their cousins to murder Wang in 2003.[1]
Yuan was found guilty of the murder in January 2005 and was due to die by firing squad on 14 October 2005. The day before the execution date, his wife, Zhuoma, a Tibetan dancer, transferred ownership of shares worth 49.5 billion yuan to the government, including shares of an Indonesian oilfield, hoping to win some time to reverse the sentence. Yuan won a stay of execution until March 2006.[2][3]
Yuan Baojing, along with his brother Yuan Baoqi and cousin Yuan Baosen, was executed by lethal injection in March 2006. Another cousin, Yuan Baofu, received a suspended death sentence.[3]
The case regained attention in 2013, when media outlets raised speculation about the proceedings of the case and possible involvement of former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who, through his son Zhou Bin, became something of a political patron for Liu Han. At the time of Yuan's execution, Zhou was the Minister of Public Security and a member of the Politburo. Media reports questioned that if Yuan was indeed the culprit, guilty of hiring a hand for murder, why did his brother and cousin also need to be put to death, raising the possibility that Liu Han had asked for especially tough sentencing because the Yuan brothers had information that Liu wanted to suppress, and that Liu had high-level backing (assumed to be Zhou Yongkang) to carry out the sentences.[4]
In 2015, Liu Han, the long time rival of Yuan, was also executed.
References
- ^ "Billionaire executed for contract murder". Xinhua. 18 March 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ "Tycoon 'paid £3 bn for stay of execution'". The Telegraph. 12 November 2005. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Rise of Chinese whizzkid ends in lethal injection". The Independent. 20 March 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ "刘汉攀上周滨:借周父之手"判死"商业对手（二）". Ce.cn via Netease. 5 March 2014.