Last year it was Rio Tinto employees this time it’s? Australian CEO Matthew Ng, 44 who has been detained while Chinese police investigate allegations of misappropriation of company assets at his travel company Et-China
We’re told … Mr Ng’s arrest follows reports of a business dispute with one of China’s biggest tourism operators, GZL, in which Mr Ng’s company Et-china is a major shareholder.
Here’s the introduction to a report by the ABC (Aus Broadcasting Corporation)
Full report at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/26/3077939.htm?section=world
Mr Ng, who was educated in Australia and New Zealand, began his working life in the Sydney finance industry and moved to China in the late 90s.
In 2000 he started Et-china, a travel and tourism business.
The business was so successful the Australia-China Alumni Association, in conjunction with AusTrade, recently presented him with an award for entrepreneurship.
Beijing-based business consultant Edward Smith was on the committee which selected Mr Ng’s company as the winner.
“He’s grown that from a start-up business to one of the largest tourism businesses between Australia and China, bringing tens of thousands of tourists from China into Australia. It’s quite a remarkable business,” he said.
Mr Ng lives in the southern Chinese industrial capital of Guangzhou, where his business is also based.
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Here’s the Et-China? website? which is still up http://www.et-chinalimited.com/content/about/profile.asp
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From the website’s press room dated 22 November
22 November 2010
Update
Et-china, a leading travel services group in the fast growing region of South China, has been notified that Mathew Ng, Chief Executive Officer, has been detained by Guangzhou police as part of their investigations as a suspect of the crime of misappropriation of company assets.? At present Et-china has no further information about the cause of his detention.? As far as Et-china is aware at present Matthew Ng has not been charged with any offence.
Chris Rose, Non-Executive Director, will assume the role of acting CEO of Et-china.
Chris Rose, acting CEO, commented “the Board are supportive of Matthew and are seeking an early resolution of this matter to enable him to resume his role as Chief Executive Officer as soon as possible”.
A further announcement will be made in due course.
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Also worth a read is the following article by? Donald R. Rothwell is Professor of International Law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University. Along With Joshua Neoh and Professor Kim Rubenstein he has recently completed a collaborative research project on the Stern Hu case.
The article is entitled
Chinese law is Australia’s business
Here’s the link to the full article? http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/41544.html
He introduces his piece by saying…..
The plight of the Australian businessman Matthew Ng detained by Chinese police on 16 November bears striking similarities to the recent Stern Hu case.
Both involve Chinese born business executives who relocated to Australia and gained Australian citizenship before returning to China and developing a high business profile before running afoul of local authorities, and being caught up in the Chinese legal system. Stern Hu was working for Rio Tinto as a leading Chinese-based executive engaged in sensitive negotiations over the sale price of Australian iron ore to Chinese steel manufacturers. His situation began to unravel in mid-2009 when he was arrested and charged with stealing government secrets. Ng is currently being detained without charge, but it appears that he is the subject of police enquires as a result of business dealings between his Chinese-based travel company, Et-China, and local competitors.
While the Stern Hu case eventually engaged the Australian government at the very highest levels, Matthew Ng?s situation has yet to have reached those heights though Australian officials in China are monitoring his case.
How is it that ethnic Chinese carrying Australian passports have become the subject of such recent attention by the Chinese authorities? At one level it would seem purely by chance that these two similar cases have arisen over the course of 2009-2010.
In the 1990s the Chinese-born Australian businessman James Peng was the first high profile case involving a Chinese Australian who had encounters with the Chinese legal system. Peng was sentenced in 1995 to sixteen years imprisonment for embezzlement and misappropriation of company funds, and released in 1999 as part of a ?good-will? gesture by China. There was a ten year gap between Peng?s release and Stern Hu?s arrest suggesting that Australian citizens of Chinese origin are not being targeted by the Chinese authorities.
