Chen Fashu is the richest man in the southeastern province of Fujian. He ranks third on Hurun's 2010 Philanthropy List. His is an inspiring story of a poor country boy becoming a billionaire. But this month, he became a troubled board chairman, convicted in the court of public opinion.
Zijin Mining Group, the major source of wealth for Chen as its second-largest shareholder, issued a statement on Wednesday night that vice-president Chen Jiahong was detained by police on Tuesday for a chemical-sewage leak in Shanghang county early this month. Chen Jiahong also headed Zijin's Zijinshan Gold and Copper Mine, the source of the toxic spill that seriously polluted the Ting River.
Three other senior employees were already in custody. Chen Jiahong and his deputy were suspended from their positions on July 20. Share prices slumped. Besides the news about its executives, the mine had halted production, and it is unknown how much Zijin will have to pay to return the polluted river to full health.
The Zijin trouble followed closely the credential fraud scandal of Tang Jun , Chen Fashu's man Friday at the New Huadu Industrial Group - a company Chen Fashu had built up from nothing. Tang was accused of forging his doctorate by an anti-fraud activist. Most recently, the media found he was involved in a loan scam.
Before the two scandals had subsided, Chen Fashu himself was derided for empty charity promises after Guangzhou-based newspaper The Time Weekly reported that his charity foundation, to which he had promised to donate 8.3 billion yuan (HK$9.5 billion) worth of shares in October, had only 160 million yuan in its account so far.
In fact, it was the purchase of Zijin shares, the employment of Tang and the establishment of the New Huadu Charity Foundation that had brought Chen Fashu, 50, under the national media spotlight.