RE <<They should have let US agents on the plane to take her to the States immediately instead of playing monkey in the middle>>
... that protocol is known as 'special rendition', typically not meted out to corporate executives, but yes, do happen, and has happened in hong kong given that hong kong does not wish to get in the middle of business of others.
team usa arguably invented 'special rendition' protocol, or at least de facto legalised the method, albeit, like paper, ink, paper money, and bank transfer function, the way may have originated in china, per the term 'shanghai-ed'. when i have time shall check on whether IP royalty has been paid by usa to china for the method patent. it may be the case that special rendition is a de jure item.
in hong kong, oddly, many china oligarchs tend to aggregate at the four season's service apartment block, and so taking them out is a piece of cake, just persuade them to voluntarily sit in a wheel chair and roll them away
others would know which fancy car in the hotel's garage would come up for sale, and which mistress / assistant would be looking for new sponsor
4-seasons hotel is sort of a one-stop shop (here is a nyt story describing the protocol nytimes.com
A Video, a Wheelchair, a Suitcase: Mystery of Vanished Tycoon Deepens )
... and here is the follow-up
rule of law can only serve the lawless at times. imagine how societally satisfying it would be if team usa applied the protocol to usa hedge fund managers. it is strange that most usa financial criminals do not make a run for it, but then again they do not feel the need, as in the case of corzine / mf global as opposed to madoff ... corzine gets to rule-by-law get-away w/ "money vaporised" :0) whereas madoff made an accounting error, albeit a big one, but where a reversal adjustment would have squared everyone given the market ramp since ( zerohedge.com A Decade (And $13 Billion) Later, Madoff's Victims Have Almost Been Made Whole Again :0)
scmp.com
Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua, missing for 15 months since vanishing in Hong Kong, ‘could face trial by June’
Xiao Jianhua, the mysterious Chinese tycoon who vanished from a luxury Hong Kong hotel over the Lunar New Year weekend in January 2017, is likely to face trial at a Chinese court in May or June, sources in Beijing and Hong Kong have told the South China Morning Post.
If confirmed, it would resolve some of the uncertainty surrounding Xiao, who had built a business empire in China’s underdeveloped capital markets before falling victim to Beijing’s crackdown on oligarchs, nicknamed “big crocodiles”.
“The investigation stage is done and the case has moved to the judicial department,” a Beijing-based source, who declined to be named, told the Post. “The trial could take place very soon.”
Hong Kong police still lack answers on missing billionaire Xiao Jianhua
A source in Hong Kong, who requested anonymity but has been involved in Xiao’s business deals for a number of years, said Xiao could stand trial before the end of June.
The specific charges Xiao will face remains unknown, but both sources said they would not be as serious as those against Wu Xiaohui, the former chairman of Anbang Insurance Group.
One reason for the potentially lighter treatment of Xiao is the billionaire’s cooperation with the authorities in volunteering information and shrinking his business empire, the sources said.
Who’s next after Beijing prosecutes Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui?
Wu, in contrast, refused to cooperate and was charged with “fundraising by fraud”, which can be punishable by life imprisonment, according to court documents.
Xiao was persuaded to return to mainland China to help with investigations relating to China’s stock market turmoil of 2015, the Post reported in February 2017.
In the small hours of January 27, two vans arrived at the luxurious Four Seasons Place, where Xiao was staying in one of his several rented serviced flats. Five men left vans at about 1am and knocked on the door of Xiao’s 28th-floor flat before emerging two hours later with Xiao.
Almost 12 hours later, Xiao passed through border controls at the Lok Ma Chau border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and disappeared into the mainland Chinese city, the Post reported.
Xiao Jianhua firm offloads US$23 billion as China reins in tycoons
The disappearance of Xiao had initially stirred fears in Hong Kong that the agents had violated its rule of law by crossing the border to carry out law enforcement.
Hong Kong’s security minister, Lai Tung-kwok, said later that there was no indication that Xiao had left the city against his will or that mainland public security officers had acted beyond their jurisdiction.?
Top Chinese cabinet official’s sacking ‘linked to missing billionaire’ Xiao
Xiao was reported missing by his family on January 28. The next day, they informed police that Xiao had told his family he was safe.?
However, confusion deepened when a statement dated January 31 was issued in Xiao’s name by Tomorrow Group, of which he is founder and chairman, via its official social media account and Hong Kong media, saying that Xiao was having medical treatment abroad and had not been abducted into the mainland.?
The big questions about missing tycoon: why and why now?
Before it was removed from Tomorrow Group’s social media account, the statement stated that Xiao was a permanent Hong Kong resident and a Canadian citizen, and that he would face the media “soon”.
A source told the Post that the statement was a result of “miscommunication” and was not true. Xiao has not been seen in public since.?
Why missing billionaire and actor De Niro have a stake in island paradise
Chinese authorities, including the police, have never provided any information about Xiao’s whereabouts.
A law graduate from Peking University, Xiao used Tomorrow Group as an investment vehicle to acquire stakes in hundreds of corporate entities.
Mainland tycoon has history of doing deals with big wheels
According to a well-informed source last month, Beijing saw this as a potential threat to China’s financial stability and instructed the company to divest 150 billion yuan (US$23.9 billion) worth of assets in 2018 to repay bank loans, after offloading investments of about 100 billion yuan since Xiao returned to the mainland. |
