A Hainan -based property developer worth 10 billion yuan (HK$12.4 billion) has shut down amid investigations into bribery, land hoarding and illegal construction, mainland media have reported.
Several government departments are looking into Hainan Meiyuan Real Estate, China Business News reported yesterday. The revelations come more than a year after the company's billionaire founder, Wang De , was taken away by authorities for alleged bribery.
The Haikou Municipal Bureau of Land Resources said on Friday that it had reclaimed from the company 14 parcels for land, measuring more than 500,000 square metres on grounds that they were either obtained illegally or sat idle for too long.
The bureau said on its website that it decided to take ownership of one 3,000 square metre site after learning the company had obtained it in part by giving bribes.
Another 13 parcels of land were confiscated from the company and one of its subsidiaries because, the bureau said, the companies had yet to begin development two years after acquiring them.
The announcement put the company under a new spotlight more than a year after its boss, Wang, was reportedly taken away from the island province and placed under investigation for bribery at the end of 2010.
In November, the standing committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference announced that Wang had agreed to resign from his position as a delegate to the conference.
