Founder of Evergrande sentenced to life in prison
The founder of China’s once‑largest property developer, Hui Ka Yan, has been handed a life prison sentence and had all his personal assets seized following a court ruling by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court.
Hui had pleaded guilty in April to a range of offences, including embezzlement and corporate bribery. The court also imposed a fine of 15.82 billion yuan (about £1.73 bn) on his former companies for falsifying records and concealment of debt.
The decision comes after the Evergrande collapse that rattled China’s real‑estate sector, causing deep losses for investors and local banks. The court said the company’s actions ‘seriously disrupted’ the market.
Other top executives—Hui’s sons Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe—were previously sentenced to jail terms ranging from 22 months to 18 years.
Hui, once Asia’s richest man, rose from a modest background in rural China to chair the company he founded in 1996. Under his watch, Evergrande grew through aggressive borrowing and rapid expansion, eventually reaching a market cap of over $50 bn before its dramatic downfall.
Evergrande’s implosion set off a broader slump in China’s property market, which fuels roughly a third of the country’s GDP and drives local government revenue. Its collapse triggered further distress among other developers, tightening a financial tightening meant to control excessive debt in the sector.
