Chinese ex-official admits to making US$23 million from insider trading
- Former vice-governor of Guizhou province pleads guilty to engaging in illegal share trades for more than six years
- Wang Xiaoguang, 57, also admitted to charges of accepting bribes and corruption. He will be sentenced at a later date
A former provincial vice-governor in southern China has pleaded guilty to engaging in insider trading and making 160 million yuan (US$23.2 million) on illegal trades over the course of more than six years.
Wang Xiaoguang, 57, also admitted to charges of accepting bribes and corruption when he stood trial on Thursday, the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court said.
From August 2009 to February 2016, Wang used his position to obtain inside information that he and his relatives used to make illegal share transactions to the tune of 490 million yuan, according to court documents. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Wang held various positions in the Guizhou government during that period, becoming vice-governor in June 2017 before he was dismissed in March this year when he was placed under investigation by the party’s graft-buster. He was expelled from the party in September.
He also has links to another disgraced official, Wang Sanyun, 66 – the former party chief of Gansu province who pleaded guilty to taking 66.8 million yuan (US$9.7 million) in bribes when he stood trial in October.
The two men are both from Heze, in Shandong province, and went to the same teachers’ college in the Guizhou capital, Guiyang. Wang Xiaoguang went on to become Wang Sanyun’s secretary when he was the party chief of Guiyang.