Li Hejun, once listed as China's richest man, has been banned from being a director of any Hong Kong company for eight years over his management of energy firm Hanergy which saw its shares implode in 2015.

The tycoon stepped down as chairman of Hong Kong-listed Hanergy Thin Film in May 2016, almost a year after the firm's shares plunged 47 percent in less than half an hour wiping $19 billion off its market capitalisation.

The city's securities watchdog brought a case before the High Court in January, calling for a 15-year ban on Li.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said Li had failed to question the viability of Hanergy's business model which relied on sales to its unlisted mainland parent Hanergy Holding Group Limited and its affiliates as its main source of revenue.

The court judgement released on Monday said that Li had put himself in a position where there was a clear conflict of interest "and preferred the interests of Hanergy Holding".

It said Li had failed to recover very substantial "receivables" worth HK$3.28 billion ($419 million) in 2014 and over HK$2 billion in 2015 from Hanergy Holding.

It banned the 50-year-old from serving as a director or at the management level of any listed or unlisted company for eight years.

"Listed company directors should always put the company's interests first," Thomas Atkinson, executive director of enforcement at the SFC, said.

"In this case, these directors flouted their responsibilities by putting the interests of connected parties before that of the listed company," he added.

Four other directors of Hanergy were also banned for between three and four years for failing to make disclosures about the viability of the business model.

Hanergy Thin Film, which saw its shares suspended since May 2015, said Monday that the judgment was one step towards the resumption of trade in its shares.

The firm captured the attention of investors after growing more than sixfold to become the world's largest solar power company by market value ahead of the collapse.

The meteoric rise in share price once gave Li the title of China's richest man, according to one wealth survey, with Forbes citing his current worth to be $1.93 billion.

The collapse of Hanergy and some other top-performing stocks on the Hong Kong stock market prompted critics to question the oversight of regulators.

Tweet

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo's ashes buried at sea
Shenyang, China (AFP) July 15, 2017
The ashes of China's late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo were buried at sea on Saturday, depriving his supporters of a place to pay tribute to the pro-democracy dissident. Officials showed a video in which his wife, Liu Xia, and relatives lowered a white round urn into the water off the northeastern coastal city of Dalian, two days after the democracy advocate died of liver cancer aged 61 while i ... read more

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only