Chinese mining tycoon sentenced to death for mafia-style operation

A Chinese court on Friday convicted and sentenced to death Liu Han, the founder of Sichuan Hanlong Group, a majority shareholder of the Australian miner Moly Mines, after finding guilty of leading a mafia-style operation in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.

Liu Han, the former head of mining conglomerate Sichuan Hanlong Group, and his brother, Liu Wei, were accused of executing nine murders. They also face charges of assault, extortion, illegal detention and running a local gambling ring with 34 other gang members.

The verdict is the latest in a series of corruption-related cases involving high-profile individuals, including politicians and businessmen. It is also one of the largest criminal gangs to be tried in China in recent years.

The 48-year-old Liu Han built the Sichuan Hanlong Group into one of the largest private enterprises in southwestern China, but through mafia-like operations involving violent "big bully" kidnapping and murder to upset economic and social order, the Xianning People's Intermediate Court in Hubei province said in its decision handed down on Friday.

Liu stood trial last month along with 35 of his gangland accomplices for criminal activities. The court found all of them guilty and sentenced five of them to death, including Liu Wei, younger brother of Liu Han. Nine others received suspended death sentences that could be commuted to life in prison. Others received jail sentences ranging between three and 20 years.

Sichuan is one of the power bases of the once powerful Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang, who himself is now at the centre of rumours about a corruption probe.

The influential business magazine 'Caixin` has reported that Liu Han once had dealings with a businessman believed to be Zhou's son.

State media have also hinted that the gang had connections to central government officials.

The court also observed on Friday that the gang was "sheltered by staff members of state organs".

The court ordered forfeiture of assets, including the entire fortune of Liu Han, estimated to be worth over $1 billion.

The company Hanlong itself was fined 300 million yuan ($48 million) for forgery and fraud.

The Hanlong group is a diversified firm with interests ranging from tourism to minerals, and assets of more than 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).

China Central Television on Friday broadcast trial highlights showing how the gang was organised and used violence, backed up by exhibits of weapons and witness testimony.

"The group made tremendous financial gains through organised crime and became an economic force to be reckoned with," the official Xinhua news agency said in an earlier report.

Liu admitted to a fast-and-rough lifestyle that included luxury living and aggressive business tactics, according to a transcript of his comments, but he strongly denied involvement in criminal activity and instead alleged those facts were manufactured for political reasons.

But he defended Hanlong as a legal enterprise that paid taxes, made charitable contributions and did deals that helped the nation. He said some investment deals struck with government officials in part helped fulfill political goals in Sichuan.

The tycoon's arrest rippled through his overseas network of investments in Australia, Africa and the US and torpedoed big deals that previously appeared to illustrate China's growing financial clout.

The arrest put much of Liu's enterprise in limbo and has cast doubt on Hanlong's ability to fulfill agreements to arrange and guarantee $790 million to build a giant molybdenum mine in the Nevada desert in the US, whose funding plan now stands officially abandoned.

Hanlong, however, remains the largest single shareholder in the mine owner, Colorado-based General Moly Inc, with a 13 per cent stake.

Liu's arrest was part of the anti-graft campaign spearheaded by China's then-new leader, President Xi Jinping in the Sichuan capital of Chengdu.