Officials in China’s Guizhou face corruption investigation weeks after launch of probe into arrest of businesswoman

The two officials have ties to state-run resort alleged to owe millions in back payments for building projects

Province is looking into detention of construction firm’s owner, accused of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ after refusing settlement offer

Reading Time:2 minutes

The Yeyuhai Mountainous Region Resort in southern China’s Guizhou province has halted construction projects worth hundreds of millions of yuan because of a lack of funding. Photo: Weibo / 西安微博热搜

Published: 7:00pm, 20 Mar 2024Updated: 8:12pm, 20 Mar 2024

Two officials from southern China’s Guizhou province are being investigated for corruption weeks after the province started looking into the arrest of a businesswoman who tried to recoup millions in back payments for projects carried out under the duo’s watch.

Hou Junran, the deputy Communist Party secretary of the political and legal affairs committee of Shuicheng district in the city of Liupanshui, and Wang Erbin, Shuicheng’s former deputy party secretary, are under investigation for “severe violation of the law and party discipline”, the Liupanshui Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on Tuesday.

Both officials held positions at the Yeyuhai Mountainous Region Resort, which is owned by the Shuicheng district government.

Starting in 2017, the resort invested close to 300 million yuan (US$41 million) to build a bike racing track, houses and museums. But by 2018, the projects were halted due to lack of funding, according to a 2021 report by state-owned China National Radio.

Businesswoman Ma Yijiayi’s construction company was contracted to build many of these amenities, but she said she was never paid for the projects. She later sued the resort subsidiary that oversaw the projects for non-payment and won, but she still never received the money.

According to a now-deleted report published in the China Business Journal last month, the local government allegedly owed Ma 220 million yuan but tried to settle the debt for 12 million – an offer the businesswoman refused.

In November, Ma was detained and accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a controversial catch-all charge often used to prevent aggrieved parties from raising complaints to higher authorities, according to an investigation by China’s top court. She was arrested in January and remains in custody.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x