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SCMP Reporter

Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and publisher of the list of the mainland's  richest tycoons, has defended himself against criticism that his list is a jinx, bringing misfortune to those who appear on it. 
'There is not any causal relationship between my list and the ensuing bad fortunes of those once on the list,' Mr Hoogewerf, compiler of the Hurun Report  was quoted as saying by China Business News.
'If some of them were doomed to meet bad fortune [for their business malpractices], they would do so whether they were on my list or not.' 
He has been compiling a list of the mainland's richest 100 people since 1999, but since then, 48 of the 1,330 people who have appeared on it have suffered adverse fortunes.  
Five have died and the whereabouts of seven are currently unknown. Of the remaining 36, 16 have been convicted, three are awaiting their verdicts, seven have been investigated at one time or another and 10 are under investigation.
In 2000, Mou Qizhong, who was placed 16th in the 1999 Hurun Report, received a sentence of life imprisonment for foreign exchange fraud involving US$75 million.
In 2003, Yang Bin, a mogul hand-picked by the North Korean government to run a  special economic zone, and ranked second on the 2001 Hurun list, was jailed for 18 years for fraud and bribery.
And the most dramatic case is that of Wong Kwong-yu,  founder of Hong Kong-listed appliances chain Gome.  
Mr Wong was ranked the richest man in three of the past five years, with a personal fortune estimated at US$6.3 billion before his detention in November last year on suspicion of stock-market manipulation, tax evasion, money-laundering and bribery.
But despite the detention, Mr Wong, who is believed to have made a tidy profit from trading his company's shares last month, would again be on the Hurun list this year, though his specific ranking was unclear yet, Mr Hoogewerf said. 
These cases have led to much sneering, with the Hurun list being described as 'the chopping block for hogs' - meaning that misfortune cannot be far away. 
Han Meng, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the lack of specific laws and regulations to standardise some business practices during the early period of the mainland's  market economy before the 1990s was one reason for some  tycoons' downfalls, although  personal greed and conceit may have played a bigger role. 
'Maybe we cannot rule out human weakness ...  but some imperfections in the laws and regulations in early years also put them at a loss to know where the red line between the dos and don'ts was,' he said.  
Unlike previous years' lists - when tycoons from the property, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors usually made  up the bulk of placements - this year's list would also include wealthy people from new energy and energy conservation sectors,  Mr Hoogewerf said, without elaborating.
Fame and misfortune
Rupert Hoogewerf's Hurun Report names the mainland's richest tycoons
The number of people who have appeared on the list since 1999: 1,330
The number of those who have suffered a downturn in their fortunes after appearing on the list: 48



Hurun compiler denies rich list brings bad luck