Tigershark
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China says no to PM's jail plea Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent From: The Australian May 07, 2011 12:00AM
CHINESE Communist Party leaders have spurned a personal appeal by Julia Gillard on behalf of detained Australian businessman Matthew Ng and will send him for trial charged with embezzlement.
The Weekend Australian has learned that Chinese police referred Mr Ng's case to prosecutors yesterday after an investigation. No date was set for the trial.
"We remain in close contact with Mr Ng's family and legal representatives. We are not in a position to comment any further at this stage," a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said last night.
It now appears unlikely that Mr Ng, who is a major shareholder and chief executive of a company called Et-China, will avoid a jail sentence, as most cases referred to prosecutors in China result in a conviction.
The Prime Minister raised Mr Ng's case - along with that of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, jailed for corruption - with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when she made her first visit to China as Australia's leader two weeks ago.
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The Chinese have previously used such visits to release or shorten sentences of foreign nationals in Chinese custody, but seem to have dropped the practice in recent years.
Mr Ng, a Guangzhou native and Australian citizen, was detained by the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau last November after failing to reach a resolution in a dispute between Et-Chin, listed on London's AIM stock exchange, and the state-owned Lignan Group over assets that Et bought in 2006 and 2007.
The dispute involved the revelation that Et-China had paid less than $10 million for a company that accounted for 97 per cent of the sales of a group that was valued at $86m last July.
It is understood Mr Ng's lawyer and his wife, Niki Chow - who has remained in Guangzhou with the couple's two children - were hoping he would be released to a lighter form of detention, such as house arrest, rather than sent to trial.
CHINESE Communist Party leaders have spurned a personal appeal by Julia Gillard on behalf of detained Australian businessman Matthew Ng and will send him for trial charged with embezzlement.
The Weekend Australian has learned that Chinese police referred Mr Ng's case to prosecutors yesterday after an investigation. No date was set for the trial.
"We remain in close contact with Mr Ng's family and legal representatives. We are not in a position to comment any further at this stage," a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said last night.
It now appears unlikely that Mr Ng, who is a major shareholder and chief executive of a company called Et-China, will avoid a jail sentence, as most cases referred to prosecutors in China result in a conviction.
The Prime Minister raised Mr Ng's case - along with that of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, jailed for corruption - with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when she made her first visit to China as Australia's leader two weeks ago.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
The Chinese have previously used such visits to release or shorten sentences of foreign nationals in Chinese custody, but seem to have dropped the practice in recent years.
Mr Ng, a Guangzhou native and Australian citizen, was detained by the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau last November after failing to reach a resolution in a dispute between Et-Chin, listed on London's AIM stock exchange, and the state-owned Lignan Group over assets that Et bought in 2006 and 2007.
The dispute involved the revelation that Et-China had paid less than $10 million for a company that accounted for 97 per cent of the sales of a group that was valued at $86m last July.
It is understood Mr Ng's lawyer and his wife, Niki Chow - who has remained in Guangzhou with the couple's two children - were hoping he would be released to a lighter form of detention, such as house arrest, rather than sent to trial.
I have faithfully reproduced the writer, time, publisher, and text of the article. If that's grounds for punishment, then you live in a very twisted world. No wonder you can't stomach fair legal systems of other countries.
