Shenzhen credit union boss on trial over '$221m spree'

The boss of a Shenzhen credit union is on trial after allegedly spending more than 238 million yuan (HK$221 million) of its money - most of it on mainland mistresses and on horse racing in Hong Kong before fleeing to Mongolia.

Deng Baoju, who was general manager of a four-star hotel in Shenzhen and director of the city's Baoan district Shajing Rural Credit Co-operative, had been repatriated along with two associates, Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday.

Deng and the two men disappeared on November 21, 1998, the paper said.

After a call from the supervisory body of the credit co-operative, Shenzhen police launched an investigation that discovered he had spent 238 million yuan of the co-operative's money from 1997 until he fled, the report said.

Of this, up to 160 million yuan was spent on gambling in Hong Kong after triads invited him to the horse races.

He won 300,000 yuan at first, but his luck changed and he started to lose heavily. So he allegedly used the co-operative's cash.

Deng also frequented Shenzhen's karaoke bars, nightclubs and saunas and met a woman from Sichuan who became his mistress. After she bore him a daughter, he sent her back to her village to avoid harming his reputation.

He bought her a villa and gave her a monthly allowance of 10,000 yuan. He spent three to four million yuan on her.

Among the many women Deng spent millions of yuan on was one from Shaanxi. Deng paid 10,000 yuan for just one night with her and bought her a villa for 5.6 million yuan in Shenzhen's upmarket Yinhe area.

Police recovered 18 million yuan from her, much of it in bank accounts in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xian.

The three men were arrested in Ulan Bator on January 12 after a warrant was issued through Interpol. They were planning to escape to Western Europe.