Metersbonwe (Photo : Metersbonwe)
Zhou Chengjian, the 65th richest man in China with an estimated wealth of $4 billion (26.5 billion yuan), is reportedly missing. The founder of famous Chinese fashion brand Metersbonwe was picked up by police.
Following this development which is part of the anti-corruption campaign in China that looks into the activities of businessmen and financiers, Metersbonwe suspended trading on Thursday on the Shenzhen stock exchange, CNBC reports. In a second statement issued by the fashion company on the same night, it said that officials of Metersbonwe could not reach Zhou or Tu Ke, the board secretary.
Forbes reports that his detention was because of his business ties with fund manager Xu Xiang. The fund manager was arrested in November for insider trading. Chinese media reports say that Zexi Investment, the company of Xu, profited about $70 million by trading Metersbonwe's stock in six months to April 2015.
Zhou's rise to wealth is an interesting story because the former tailor declared bankruptcy twice before he was 18, but kept on relaunching his fashion business, based in Shanghai, until he succeeded by selling fashionable clothing significantly more affordable than foreign brands. His target market are young graduates.
In December, Guo Guangchang, owner of Chinese conglomerate Fosun - the operator of Club Med - also disappeared. Guo was also part of the high-profile investigation involving private sector businessmen. For several days, he could not be located, but Fosun later said that Guo was helping authorities with an unspecified investigation, although he is said to be not a target of the ongoing probe.
Because the private sector was spared before by the Communist Party's anti-corruption drive, Guo's detention shocked the country's business community. Zhou's detention again shocked China's businessmen.
