POLICE have detained one of China's most famous entrepreneurs for alleged involvement in the torture and subsequent death of a worker.
The New China News Agency reported yesterday that Yu Zuomin, the chairman of the Daqiuzhuang Agriculture, Industrial and Commercial Corporation, had been detained in relation to the case of Wei Fuhe, who died in suspicious circumstances on December 13 last year.
Yu, who built Daqiuzhuang, a collective enterprise, into a multi-billion-yuan conglomerate, was accused of ''shielding and harbouring criminals'' and for perverting the course of justice.
The NCNA said investigations were proceeding.
Sources in Tianjin said Wei, who was an employee of Wanquan Company, a Daqiuzhuang unit, had been suspected of corruption and other crimes.
It was reported in Tianjin that last December he was detained, interrogated and tortured by one of Yu's sons and security personnel at Daqiuzhuang.
While the agency did not say who caused Wei's death, it pointed out that he had died after having been ''illegally detained and beaten up''.