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Ex-chairman of New China Life charged

By Bi Xiaoning (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-26 15:32

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After two years of investigations, Guan Guoliang, 48-year-old former chairman of New China Life Insurance Co, was charged in court yesterday for suspected embezzlement and misappropriation of about 300 million yuan ($43.9 million).

Guan was charged with taking advantage of his position to unlawfully take possession of 3 million yuan and misappropriate funds of 260 million yuan during his time as chairman of New China Life Insurance Co from 1998 to 2006.

Due to complicated evidence, the court will continue in session today. Guan has not pleaded guilty in the arraignment.

"Guan has been charged with committing two crimes at the same time. If he is found guilty, according to criminal law in China he will be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of between 8 and 20 years. He may also be charged with theft of property," said Fu Yong, a lawyer from Dacheng Law Offices who is not involved in the case.

Beijing Times reported CIRC spokesman Yuan Li as saying: "Most of the embezzled capital has been recalled and the remainder has been preserved through mortgages. All the embezzled capital can be expected to be returned after the disposal of assets."

In 2005, the company's accounting firm, Pricewater-houseCoopers (PwC), was dismissed because of many questionable capital operations found during the periodical audit process.

On September 23 of 2006, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) sent an investigation team to New China Life Insurance Co and found Guan had misused almost 13 billion yuan over 8 years, with about 2.7 billion yuan still outstanding at the time.

On December 27 of 2006, China's insurance regulator fired Guan as chairman of New China Life Insurance Co. In May of 2007, an insurance protection fund invested in the company and held about 38.8 percent of the company's shares.

As of November 11 of 2008, insurance revenues in New China Life Insurance Co reached 50 billion yuan, up 89 percent from the same period of 2007, and 32 percent higher than the average growth rate of domestic life insurance companies.