China’s top dairy firm says CEO too ill to attend Asia’s Davos, squashes rumours of police probe

Yili Group says chairman and chief executive Pan Gang is being treated for heart condition overseas, announces arrest of six rumour-mongers

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A man looks at Yili products at a store in Shanghai in this file image. The dairy company said its chairman and CEO Pan Gang was being treated for a heart condition overseas and would not be able to attend the Boao Forum for Asia as planned. Photo: Imaginechina

Published: 4:15pm, 8 Apr 2018Updated: 5:37pm, 8 Apr 2018

The CEO and chairman of China’s largest dairy firm, Yili Group, will miss the Boao Forum for Asia because of ill health, the company said late on Saturday, amid rumours he had been taken away for investigation.

Pan Gang was expected to take part in a panel discussion on Tuesday at the annual event, which opened on Sunday in the southern Chinese province of Hainan and will be attended by President Xi Jinping.

A company statement said that Pan, 48, suffered from a congenital heart problem known as aortic stenosis and fell ill as a result of a gruelling work schedule. After being seen by doctors in China, he was advised to travel overseas for further treatment.

Pan Gang, Yili Group chairman and CEO, was expected to take part in a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia on Tuesday. Photo: Imagine China

Communist Party officials in Inner Mongolia, where Yili has its headquarters, and its regional capital Hohhot, had been notified of Pan’s movements and remained in contact with him, it said.

The statement said also that six people had been arrested by police in Hohhot for spreading rumours that Pan had been “taken away” by the authorities for investigation.