Five years after the firm’s collapse rocked the country’s financial markets and economy, a Chinese court sentenced the founder of China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted real estate developer, to life in jail on Thursday. The former richest man in Asia, Hui Ka Yan, entered a guilty plea in April to eight charges, including bribery, fraudulently issuing securities, unlawfully taking public deposits, unlawfully extending loans, and misusing funds. Once China’s top developer, Evergrande has defaulted on most of its $300 billion in debt, a troubling sign of a real estate crisis that has long plagued the world’s second-largest economy.
Hui’s journey from poverty to wealth is ended by the punishment in the southern city of Shenzhen, which included seizing all of his personal belongings. However, Evergrande’s domestic and foreign creditors are unlikely to find comfort in this. Evergrande’s liquidators declined to comment on the sentencing. Hui has not been seen in public since Chinese officials jailed him in 2023 after Evergrande’s default, and Reuters was unable to get in touch with his legal lawyers. A grey-haired Hui, 67, wearing a long-sleeved, navy blue collared shirt, stood between two officers as the court read down his punishment in photos made public by the court.
All ordinary citizens have paid the cost,” and “Imprisonment is meant to protect him” were among the remarks made by Evergrande homeowners in a social media group. His life is in danger if he comes out,” and “What about our money?”The court added that in addition to Hui’s punishment, it had fined Evergrande 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and its principal subsidiary Hengda 7 billion yuan. Five other top officials were also sentenced to penalties and prison terms ranging from six to eighteen years.
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