Produced | Clear Stream Studio
Author| Liang Yaodan Editor-in-chief| Zhao Yan
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With the arrest of the mainland police, Macau's casino tycoon, known as the "little gambling king", Chow Tuo Hua (nicknamed "Washing Rice Hua"), has gradually surfaced in the mainland.
According to the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau in Zhejiang Province on November 26, a cross-border gambling criminal group with criminal suspects Zhou Zhuohua and Zhang Ningning as the backbone is suspected of committing the crime of opening a casino in China. The police also mentioned that Zhou Zhuohua set up an asset management company in China to provide services for gamblers to exchange assets for gambling chips, help collect gambling debts, and assist customers in cross-border fund redemption.
What is the situation of the asset management company established by Zhou Zhuohua in China? What role did Zhang Ningning, the "backbone" mentioned by the police, play?
Through its investigation, Qingliu Studio found that Zhang Ningning had as many as 20 companies associated with the Mainland, holding a Hong Kong Identity Card and registering a Hong Kong address in Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, while Chow Chun Wah's only affiliated company in the Mainland was called "CITIC Howard Asset Management Limited" (hereinafter referred to as "CITIC Howard Company"). Zhou Zhuohua served as the vice chairman of CITIC Haohua Company, and Zhang Ningning, a subordinate of Zhou Zhuohua, served as a director.
Following the clues disclosed by the police, Qingliu Studio further discovered that on the surface, Zhou Zhuohua had few affiliated companies in the mainland, but there were many shadow companies controlled by his employees in the mainland. Among them, according to the incomplete statistics of Qingliu Studio, there are at least 15 companies suspected of being frozen by the public security for criminal cases, most of which were frozen around September last year, and the implementation of the freezing was basically the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. According to the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau, as early as last July, the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau had filed and investigated the case of Zhang Ningning and others opening a casino in accordance with the law.
What cannot be ignored is that behind the above companies, there is also a little-known real estate business. According to the incomplete statistics of Qingliu Studio, Zhou Zhuohua has acquired 39 cases of land over the years through mainland real estate companies in which employees hold or participate in shares, totaling 1.077 million square meters, distributed in Gansu, Henan, Anhui, Liaoning, Guangdong and other provinces.
Hidden mainland business
"Macau's little gambling king" Zhou Zhuohua can be described as a huge family business. His portfolio of industries includes gaming, real estate, tourism, finance and film and television entertainment, and currently holds major stakes in three Hong Kong-listed companies, namely Sun City Group (01383.HK). HK), Kaisheng Holdings (00102. HK) and Sun Entertainment Group (08082.HK).
Although the status of Zhou Zhuohua's companies in Macau has not been inquired, according to incomplete statistics from Qingliu Studio, Zhou Zhuohua has 34 affiliates in Hong Kong, including 14 companies that have been dissolved.
In contrast, Zhou Zhuohua has only one affiliated company in the mainland, namely CITIC Howard Company. According to the official website of CITIC Haohua Company, the company's current main business includes disposal of non-performing assets, comprehensive asset management services and brokerage agencies for state asset rights. It should be noted that there are 22 foreign investment companies in CITIC Horwath, the vast majority of which are pawn companies.
According to industrial and commercial information, CITIC Haohua Company is currently held by CITIC Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CITIC Asset Management") by about 60%, Shenzhen Haohua Fuying Industrial Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenzhen Haohua Fuying") holds 40% of the shares, and the legal representative of Shenzhen Haohua Fuying is the "backbone" Zhang Ningning mentioned by the Wenzhou police this time.
However, Shenzhen Haohua Fuying was not the original partner of CITIC Asset Management. According to CITIC Horwath's change records, before December 2019, the shareholders who held 40% of the shares of CITIC Horwath were 10 shareholders with a luxurious lineup – including "Tibet JunHe Investment Co., Ltd." with a Wumart group background and "Beijing Marriott Jiamei Investment Co., Ltd." with Zheng Yutong's family background.
In December 2019, Shenzhen Haohua Fuying took over the shares of these 10 shareholders and officially joined CITIC Haohua Company, and then Zhou Zhuohua served as the vice chairman of CITIC Haohua Company.
However, if we follow the clues of Zhou Zhuohua's subordinate Zhang Ningning, it is certain that Zhou Zhuohua's business in the mainland is far more simple than superficially associating only one mainland company.
Qingliu Studio investigated that, contrary to Zhou Zhuohua, there was only one Hong Kong company associated with "backbone" Zhang Ningning, but at least 20 companies had been associated in the mainland.
Zhang Ningning was previously Sun City Group (01383. HK) former subsidiaries Sun Century Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Zirui Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Sun Linkage Real Estate Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Sun Linkage Real Estate Co., Ltd. and other companies – the main assets of the above companies are Shenzhen's Honglong Plaza and No. 1 Mid-Levels Road. However, by June this year, Sun City Group had transferred its equity in the above-mentioned real estate company to a company it called an "independent third party".
However, Qingliu Studio found that the real estate assets transferred by Sun City Group may be just the tip of the iceberg of Zhou Zhuohua's previous huge real estate territory in the mainland.
Starting with Zhang Ningning, Qingliu Studio sorted out a number of companies, and many of these companies could find key people to connect with Zhou Zhuohua. According to statistics from Qingliu Studio, a third-party platform such as Tianyancha, at least 15 of them have been frozen by the Public Security Bureau – the vast majority of which were frozen by the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in September last year.
Dismantling 15 companies suspected of being involved in criminal cases
A company called "Merrill Lynch (Wuhan) Network Technology Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Merrill Lynch" ) announced a number of equity freeze information in September last year, and the executor was the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Merrill Lynch has invested in a total of 3 companies, and the shares of Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau are frozen by 2 joint ventures with others: Henan Zhongrong Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Henan Zhongrong"), Wuhan Hanfeiying and Real Estate Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wuhan Hanfeiyinghe").
Following the two companies of Henan Zhongrong and Wuhan Hanfeiying, which are joint ventures between Merrill Lynch and others, you can find more information about the equity freezing of the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau.
For example, in Henan Zhongrong, for example, all of the company's own equity, 100% of the equity of Zhengzhou Yongzhen Real Estate Co., Ltd. held by foreign investment, 60% of the equity of Henan Wanjian Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., and 60% of the equity of Xingyang Wanjian Hanfei Real Estate Co., Ltd. were all frozen by the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau as criminal cases.
Wuhan Hanfeiyinghe, its own 100% equity was also frozen by the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Merrill Lynch's partners in Henan Zhongrong and Wuhan Hanfeiying have made it unusual for this series of criminal cases to freeze their equity records.
For example, in Wuhan Hanfeiyinghe, Merrill Lynch holds 10% of the shares, and its partner, Guangzhou Haohua Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou Haohua"), holds 90% of the shares. The legal representative of Guangzhou Haohua Investment is Zhang Ningning.
In Henan Zhongrong, Merrill Lynch holds a 65% stake, and its partner is Wuhan Yangcheng Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wuhan Yangcheng", the legal representative of the latter is Zhu Shaofen. Zhu Shaofen's career records show that she was a supervisor of Horwath Investment (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. and Zhuhai Horsa Investment Co., Ltd. The legal representative of these two companies is Zhang Ningning.
At the same time, following Zhu Shaofen's clues, Wuhan Yangcheng, Shenzhen Yangcheng Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenzhen Yangcheng"), and Shenzhen Jingxiu Oasis Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingxiu Oasis"), of which he served as the legal representative, all had their shares frozen by the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau due to criminal cases.
With key figures, pull out the frozen records of Wenzhou public security criminal cases, and more can be found. For example, among the companies in which Zhu Shaofen currently serves as the legal representative, the supervisors of 4 companies are "Zhang Zhijian". The other two companies associated with Zhang Zhijian, Shenzhen Huaren Information Consulting Co., Ltd. and Zhuhai Haohan Information Consulting Co., Ltd., have both been frozen by the Wenzhou public security judiciary for overseas investment.
Another example is the person who has intersected with Zhang Ningning, "Ou Xiaodan", who is the financial director of "Haohua Investment (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd." Shiguan Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., where Ou Xiaodan works, has a number of real estate, property subsidiaries and Sun Company's equity in foreign investment have been frozen by the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau.
Qingliu Studio found that the above-mentioned companies involved in criminal cases that were frozen by the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau showed the characteristics of a series of key figures and eventually controlled by a number of Hong Kong and Macao companies after penetration, and the Hong Kong and Macao companies involved included: Hanhua Investment (Macau) Co., Ltd., Haoneng International Holdings Co., Ltd., Changxin Industrial Co., Ltd., Heng'ao Co., Ltd., Liming Industrial Co., Ltd. and so on.
Among them, Hanhua Investment (Macau) Co., Ltd., through its holding in Shenzhen Haohua Fuying, indirectly holds the shares of CITIC Haohua Company, the only mainland affiliated company of Zhou Zhuohua; Haoneng International Holdings Limited is a wholly-owned shareholding company of Zhu Shaofen; Changxin Industrial Co., Ltd. is wholly owned by Chen Jinzhang, and Chen Jinzhang has intersected with Zhang Zhijian; Heng'ao Limited is currently wholly owned by a British Virgin Islands company, so it cannot penetrate the shares upwards, but Heng'ao Limited has a person named "Peng Hao" as a director Coincidentally, among the above-mentioned ZHOU Zhuohua mainland affiliates CITIC Haohua Company, there is also an executive named "Peng Hao", who entered CITIC Haohua Company at the same time as Zhou Zhuohua, Zhang Ningning and others; Liming Industrial Co., Ltd. is wholly owned by Xian Jiancheng, and Sin Jiancheng and Zhang Zhijian also intersect.
It is worth mentioning that through the trajectory of the above-mentioned suspected companies involved in the case, it is also possible to inquire about the connection between the washing mihua and the star Zhao Wei.
Beijing Xinnuoya Cultural Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinnuoya Group") and its subsidiary Beijing Play Together Technology Co., Ltd. have been frozen by the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau. According to public information, New Noah Culture is committed to building an offline Internet integrated resort community.
The actual controller of the new Noah Group after penetration is "Ling Songbai". In Ling Songbai's historical record, in addition to accounting firms and financial agency companies, there is also a "Shenzhen Qianhai Caizhao Wealth Management Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Qianhai Caizhao Company").
Qianhai Caizhao was deregistered in March this year. Before the deregistration, Ling Songbai was the legal representative of the company, and the actual controller after the penetration was "Yang Lixuan". Yang Lixuan once worked for Sun Century Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of sun city group's real estate sector, and zhang Ningning, who was the general manager of the company at the same time as her. In addition, Yang Lixuan also served as the legal representative of Henan Zhongrong, Jingxiu Oasis and Shenzhen Yangcheng Company associated with Zhu Shaofen.
It is this Ling Songbai who can find the connection with the star Zhao Wei. Another company owned by Ling Songbai, Shenzhen Qili Investment Consulting Co., Ltd., indirectly holds shares in Ant Financial through the "Shanghai Qihong Investment Center (Limited Partnership)", which was taken over in March from Wei Qiying, the mother of star Zhao Wei.
Low-key real estate business
At least 10 of the mainland companies in which Zhou Zhuohua controlled or participated in shares through employees had information on land acquisition. According to the incomplete statistics of Qingliu Studio, over the years, these companies have obtained at least 39 cases of land in total, with a total land area of 1.077 million square meters, and the plots are distributed in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, Fushun City, Liaoning Province, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province and other cities.
What is the equivalent of 1.077 million square meters? Although this is not as good as the head housing enterprises, it also exceeds many central housing enterprises. For example, last year's industry ranked about 200 beautiful real estate, as of the end of last year, the cumulative storage area was only 843,000 square meters. And the top 300 Guangyu Group (002133. SZ) and Shenzhen Zhenye A (000006), as of the end of last year, the cumulative land reserves were 679,300 square meters and 466,800 square meters, respectively.
However, the outside world has never known that these unknown real estate companies have the same capital tycoon lurking behind them.
Among the above companies, the most land acquisition is Gansu Yongkun Real Estate Co., Ltd., which has a total of 12 land acquisitions in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province over the years, but the company is 36% owned by "Shenzhen Jingxiu Oasis Investment and Development Co., Ltd."
From 2012 to 2017, Sanmenxia Hanfei Real Estate Co., Ltd. took a total of 9 land parcels in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, with a total land area of 261,900 square meters. Public information shows that the company has developed the "Hanfei World City Project" residential project in the local area. After the equity penetration of Sanmenxia Hanfei Real Estate Co., Ltd., the actual controller is Xia Long.
In addition, Zhengzhou Yongzhen Real Estate Co., Ltd., Xingyang Wanjian Hanfei Real Estate Co., Ltd. and Henan Wanjian Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., which are controlled by Xialong, have acquired 2, 9 and 3 cases of land in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, respectively. Xia Long has appeared briefly in Henan Guangrun Real Estate Co., Ltd., which has also taken 1 parcel of land in Zhengzhou City.
In addition, The aforementioned Ou Xiaodan, who is closely related to Zhang Ningning, Zhang Zhijian and others, and Anhui Longsheng Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., where he worked, also took 1 parcel of land in Huangshan City, Anhui Province.
Another company with close ties to Zhou Zhuohua, Qingyuan Cosco Land Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., also acquired 1 parcel of land in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province. The legal person of Qingyuan COSCO Land Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. is Sin Jiancheng. Prior to June last year, Sin was an executive at Fushun Sun Times Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., which also acquired two parcels of land in Fushun, Liaoning Province.
Interestingly, another company with close ties to Zhou Zhuohua, Shenzhen Yuhui Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenzhen Yuhui"), is a creditor of Zhou Xiaoguang, the former richest woman in Zhejiang. The current ultimate beneficiary of Shenzhen Yuhui Investment Co., Ltd. is Chen Jinzhang.
According to the relevant judgment documents, in June 2018, Shenzhen Yuhui Investment Co., Ltd. signed a loan agreement with Xinguang Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinguang Holdings") controlled by Zhou Xiaoguang, stipulating that Shenzhen Yuhui would provide a total loan of 1.32 billion yuan to Xinguang Holdings, and Sunbeam Holdings would return the principal and interest at an annualized interest rate of 24%, and *ST Xinguang (002147.SH), a listed company under Xinguang Holdings, would provide a guarantee for the loan in violation of the law. Subsequently, Shenzhen Yuhui actually lent 140 million yuan to Sunbeam Holdings, but did not receive the repayment of Sunbeam Holdings as scheduled, so in 2019, it sued Sunbeam Holdings, *ST Sunbeam and other related parties in court. Qingliu Studio noted that in recent years, Zhou Xiaoguang has suffered from a financial crisis in recent years, and its Subsidiary Sunbeam Holdings is currently in bankruptcy and reorganization.
The second instance trial of the case was handed down in August 2020. Coincidentally, then in December 2020, when Zhou Zhuohua's Sun City Group had not yet divested its real estate business, Sun City Group took over The subsidiary that Zhou Xiaoguang took over to auction off the debt, Dongyang Xinguang Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd., for 26.5 million.
It is also unknown whether there are more stories hidden behind Zhou Xiaoguang's borrowing from Zhou Zhuohua.
Liang Yaodan is a senior author of Qingliu Studio, based in Guangzhou.
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