Huang Guangyu, founder and ex-chairman of one of China’s largest bricks-and-mortar electronics retailers, is released from jail
- Huang’s release was expected in November 2022, but his term was cut short for good behaviour
- Huang and his wife remain the company’s largest shareholders
Huang Guangyu, the founder and former chairman of Gome Retail Holdings, one of China’s largest bricks-and-mortar electronics retailers, has been released from jail on parole, a court in Beijing said on Wednesday.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Huang will be released on probation on Wednesday, according to an announcement on the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court’s official WeChat account. He was sentenced to 14 years in jail and his release was expected in November 2022, but his term has been cut short by 22 months for good behaviour. The probation period ends on February 16, 2021.
Huang, 51, also known as Wong Kwong-yu, was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of “economic crimes”, and convicted in 2010 for insider trading and corporate bribery, and the transfer of 800 million yuan (US$113 million) to underground private banks in 2007, which was converted into Hong Kong dollars and used to pay gambling debts.
His release was first reported by Beijing Business Today, a financial paper run by Beijing Daily, the official media outlet of the Communist Party of China’s Beijing committee. Gome Retail, meanwhile, did not respond to inquires made by the South China Morning Post.
Gome Retail’s shares rose by as much as 28 per cent in Hong Kong on Wednesday, before ending the day 17.4 per cent higher at HK$1.62.
