“SERIOUS SOCIAL HARM”
The verdict caps 67-year-old Xu’s spectacular fall from grace.
He was once one of China’s richest billionaires and a member of the Communist Party’s top political advisory body.
On Thursday, a before-and-after photomontage was being widely shared on social media – the older image, taken years ago, shows Xu beaming as he was chased by reporters, sporting jet-black hair and wearing a gold Hermes belt.
It was contrasted with a picture released by the court on Thursday, in which a worn, white-haired Xu stood unsmiling, flanked by two police officers as he faced a panel of judges.
Xu and Evergrande’s actions “seriously disrupted the socialist market economic order … and undermined the integrity of official conduct by state personnel”, the court said.
“The circumstances were particularly egregious, causing particularly serious economic losses and causing particularly serious social harm,” it added.
The court said some lawmakers and members of the political advisory body, as well as relatives of the defendants, attended the verdict.
Observers assessing the health of the world’s second-largest economy have been closely following Evergrande’s saga and similar issues faced by other property giants including Country Garden and Vanke.
New-home prices in China have been contracting for three years.
Five other senior executives of Evergrande Group were also sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from six to 18 years for crimes including fraud, the Shenzhen court said.
A total of 56 people were given jail sentences – including Xu’s two sons – with the shortest term just one year and 10 months, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.
The court also ordered that remaining shortfalls from illegal gains be returned.
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