4 February 2008
folder [featCategs]
Fridge magnate Gu stuck in jail
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GU CHUJUN, the former chairman of Chinese manufacturer Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings, has been sentenced to ten years in jail and fined US $940,000.
On January 29, Gu Chujun was found guilty of falsely registering the capital of Greencool Enterprise Development Company, which he set up in 2001;
publishing falsified financial reports for Kelon; and embezzling with others US$43.5m from Kelon and two other companies.
Mr Gu founded refrigerator company Greencool in the early 1990s and acquired Kelon, China's biggest refrigerator-maker at the time, in late 2001.
Mr Gu was behind the introduction of Greencool refrigerants to the UK in the early 1990s through his Southampton-based company Gu Thermo Tachnology. He was detained at the end of July 2005.
Reports in the China Review said his lawyer would appeal the verdict. Seven others involved in the crimes received sentences ranging from one to four years.