Ren Zhiqiang

Ren Zhiqiang, former Chairman of state-owned Beijing Huayuan Group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court on September 22 for embezzlement, taking bribes, misappropriation of public funds and abuse of power. He was also fined 4.2 million yuan ($627,000).

Ren, 69, was appointed general manager of Huayuan Group in 1993 and later became the group's chairman. He was also the chairman of Huayuan Property, a listed subsidiary of Huayuan Group, and Beijing Huayuan Real Estate, which is wholly owned by Huayuan Property.

The court said that Ren embezzled over 49.7 million ($7.3 million) yuan of public funds. Due to the violation of regulations and abuse of power during his tenure, he caused over 116 million yuan ($17.2 million) of losses for the state-owned holding enterprises, of which Huayuan Group lost 53.7 million yuan ($7.9 million).