[Reporter He Jiaxing/Report]After the sudden death of Xie Zhikun, the actual controller of the Zhongzhi Department, major changes continued in the Zhongzhi Department, and many phenomena puzzled and concerned the outside world. Before and after the explosion of the Zhongzhi Department this year, there were frequent personnel changes in the Zhongzhi Department. The outside world is also paying great attention to the inheritance rights of Xie Zhikun’s widow Mao Amin. The shrinking of Zhongzhi’s financial footprint may lead to a wider range of risks.
On December 18, 2021, Xie Zhikun, the founder and actual controller of the “Zhongzhi Department” business empire, died suddenly. The official cause of his death was a heart attack, but there are rumors that he committed suicide or “had a heart attack.” . But regardless of the truth, his sudden death left a question that has attracted much attention, which is who will be at the helm of the Trillion Plant Empire. Two years have passed, and Xie Zhikun’s successor (the actual controller of the Zhongzhi Department) has been “difficult to deliver”.
When Xie Zhikun first passed away, many Chinese netizens were concerned about whether Xie Zhikun’s wife, the singer Mao Amin, would enter the position of inheriting Xie in the Zhongzhi family.
The answer soon came. Xie Zhikun’s family and the group management discussed and decided that Liu Yang, chairman of Zhongrong Trust and Xie Zhikun’s nephew, would have full authority to handle the group’s affairs. Liu Yang issued an open letter at the time stating that he would return as chairman of the group’s board of directors. But reality did not make him wish.
At that time, there were many articles on the Internet saying that Mao Amin voluntarily gave up her inheritance rights for the development of the company, because she had no contact with the company’s business at all, and her two children were still in school.
There is also news that Xie Zhikun did not leave any equity to Mao Amin and his two children. In other words, Mao Amin is not qualified to intervene in the transplantation business.
But so far, there is no evidence that Mao Amin personally or in writing promised to give up his inheritance rights to Jie Zhikun’s estate.
In July this year, all four major wealth companies under the Zhongzhi Group suspended redemption. Bond rollovers in July alone amounted to 230 billion yuan ($31.94 billion). According to online reports, it involves many high-net-worth individuals. There are 150,000 people with a single investment of more than 3 million yuan (approximately 417,000 US dollars), and the maximum investment amount of a single customer is more than 5 billion yuan (approximately 694 million US dollars). Old debts have not been paid, and new overdue debts continue to arrive.
Some of Zhongrong Trust’s products have also defaulted. It is estimated that the trust products with suspended payments amount to at least 350 billion yuan (about 48.3 billion U.S. dollars). So far, it has affected more than ten listed companies.
The personnel changes and successive thunderstorms in the Zhongzhi Department have constantly aroused people’s attention on Xie Zhikun’s successor. Mao Amin, on the other hand, stayed out of the incident and participated in entertainment programs.
There are discussions on the Internet that it is very wise for Mao Amin to give up his inheritance rights, otherwise if the Zhongzhi Department is liquidated in the future, Mao Amin may bear the debt problem.
Xie Tian, a professor at the Aiken School of Business at the University of South Carolina, recently told The Epoch Times that Mao Amin’s lack of equity and involvement in company management does not mean she has given up her inheritance rights. No one can touch Xie Zhikun’s equity. That is his asset. Even if Xie Zhikun does not have a will, his wife and children still have the right to inherit. There’s no point in giving up now. When the estate is settled, that’s when you’ll ask whether to give up. If you give up, you don’t want the money. If she becomes insolvent, Mao Amin will not be forced to pay back the money for her husband.
Some Chinese media reported that Xie Zhikun has American nationality, and his two children also have American nationality.
Lin Hong (pseudonym), an executive who currently works for an asset management company in Beijing, China, told The Epoch Times on November 2 that Xie Zhikun did not give Mao Amin and his children shares in the company to protect them. It is normal for a rich man of Xie Zhikun’s level to have nationalities from multiple countries. He should have prepared enough money for his wife and children. Which trust was transferred to a foreign country cannot be found in China. Mao Amin doesn’t care about the company’s shares. She won’t be short of money, and her appearance fee is not low now.
Major personnel changes in the Department of Plant Science and Technology
From the death of Xie Zhikun to the explosion of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group in July this year, the ownership structure of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group has not changed. Zhonghai Shengfeng (100% owned by Xie Zhikun), Liu Yiliang and He Huiqiao (daughter of Xie Zhikun and his ex-wife) hold 76%, 16% and 8% of the shares of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group respectively.
However, there have been major changes in the group’s senior management personnel, and changes have also occurred in related business departments.
In mid-May this year, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group underwent industrial and commercial changes: Zeng Meisha became the legal representative and executive director, and Du Juntao became the supervisor. At the same time, Liu Xiukun, Xie Zizheng, Wang Wei, and Wu Jianhua all resigned as directors and supervisors of Zhongzhi Group.
Previously, from March to May this year, there were intensive industrial and commercial changes in the companies under the Zhongzhi Department. Zeng Meisha and Du Juntao together served as legal representatives, executive directors, and supervisors of more than 20 companies.
It turned out that Zeng and Du were not core executives of Zhongzhi Group, and no more public information could be found. This has also aggravated the outside world’s curiosity about “who owns Zhongzhi”.
Xie Zizheng is the son of Xie Zhikun’s younger brother Xie Zhichun. He has many years of experience in Zhongzhi Group. As the vice president of Zhongzhi Group, he is in charge of key departments such as human resources and risk control, as well as many companies such as Zhonghai Shengrong.
Wu Jianhua used to be an investigator in the Legal Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. He was appointed as the chief wealth management officer by Xie Zhikun and served as the chairman of Zhongzhi Wealth.
Xie Zizheng, Wu Jianhua and other close confidants of Xie Zhikun resigned as directors and supervisors of Zhongzhi Group, which attracted considerable attention from the outside world.
What Zhongzhi Group kept secret was that the then president of Zhongzhi Group, Yan Maokun, also quietly resigned in April before this personnel change. It was not until June 9 that Baidu Encyclopedia revised Yan Maokun’s latest appointment to “In April 2022, served as President of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. (resigned).” The words “Resigned” appear to have been modified by Yan Maokun’s real-name account.
One year ago, on April 15, 2022, Yan Maokun took office as the president (CEO) of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group and took full charge of the work, causing an uproar and reports from the outside world.
Yan Maokun has worked in the Supreme Court of the Communist Party of China for 25 years. He once served as the chief judge of the Supervisory Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court. He was the presiding judge in the famous “Xinda Zhuang wins the multi-billion gold land case”. He resigned at the end of 2020 and was hired as the chief risk control officer of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. Xie Zhikun passed away, and he was one of the 24 people on the funeral committee. The reason why Yan Maokun was able to transform from an internal control officer to a top leader in a short period of time remains a mystery.
Previously, after Xie Zhikun’s death, the family and the board of directors decided that Liu Yang, the son of Xie Zhikun’s eldest sister, would take full charge of the work. The outside world thinks that Liu Yang has taken over the position of chief helmsman from Jie Zhikun.
Liu Yang has been a senior executive of Zhongzhi Group for more than ten years, and has been the chairman of Zhongrong Trust, the core department of Zhongzhi Group. In 2015, when Xie Zhikun retired from behind the scenes, he once served as the chairman of the board of directors of Zhongzhi Group.
However, the appearance of Yan Maokun caused the family’s cronies to unexpectedly lose to foreign airborne troops, which aroused a lot of suspicion at the time.
During the Xie Zhikun era, Zhongzhi Group had eight chief executives. Before and after Yan Maokun took office in 2022, three chief executives resigned and left. They are chief economist Wang Yungui, chief human resources officer Wang Yu, and chief compliance officer Liu Fuhua (former deputy director of the Legal Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission). These three people are veterans of the group. They are all deeply trusted by Xie Zhikun and have rich experience.
Wang Yungui, executive vice president and chief economist of Zhongzhi Group, will leave Zhongzhi Group after March 2022, including resigning as chairman of two listed companies and Zhongzhi Wealth and other related positions. Wang Yungui was the director-general of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
Chief Operating Officer Niu Zhanbin was the deputy director of China Internet Network Information Center. In March 2023, Jinhui Technology (formerly Zhongzhi Technology), a Hong Kong listed company under Zhongzhi, resigned from all positions including chairman of the board of directors and director.
Jiang Yulin, the executive director and CEO of Jinhui Technology (formerly known as Zhongzhi Technology), was subject to disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by the Chinese Communist Party in June 2022, and was removed from his position by Zhongzhi Group. Jiang Yulin was the former Party Secretary and President of the Yunnan Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Jinhui Technology stated that his investigation has nothing to do with the Zhongzhi Department.
As of 2023, 6 of Xie Zhikun’s eight CEOs have resigned.
In 2022, Ma Changshui, chairman of Zhongzhi Control Company ST Tianshan, and Zhang Shulin, chairman of Mejim Company, also resigned. Zhongzhi lost its status as the controlling shareholder of Melya, and all three original directors resigned.
Xie Tian believes that when a company faces huge risks and a core figure dies, executives will become unstable. If you are not optimistic about the future, you will leave your job.
Regarding Yan Maokun’s unexpected appointment and departure, Xie Tian said, “This should be designated by the relevant departments of the Chinese Communist Party. If you want to check and control the property and risks of the Zhongzhi Department, Yan Maokun has a background as a judge and understands economics, so he is a good candidate. . Yan Maokun unexpectedly resigned. He should have known in advance that the explosion of the Zhongzhi Department was inevitable, and he did not want to get involved in the mess. After he left office, in order to maintain the overall stability, the relevant departments appointed new executive directors and legal representatives. Now there is no one in this company One person can make the decision, and the important thing is to negotiate together.”
The financial territory of Zhongzhi Department has shrunk
In January last year, the four formerly independent Beijing fund sales companies under the Zhongzhi Department merged into one, “Zhongzhi Fund”. In the future, they will uniformly sell standardized products such as public funds and private securities. This means that only one of the four fund sales licenses under the Zhongzhi Department is retained.
In June last year, half a year after the death of Xie Zhikun, the head of the Zhongzhi Department, the public fund business and license of the Zhongzhi Department were listed for transfer.
On April 21 this year, Guolian Securities announced that it had acquired 75.5% of the equity of Zhongrong Fund held by Zhongrong International Trust and Shanghai Rongsheng, a subsidiary of Zhongzhi. This matter was approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. On August 1, Zhongrong Fund changed its name to Guolian Fund.
There have been obvious problems with the liquidity of Zhongzhi in 2022: several products of Zhongrong Trust have been extended, and the equity and licenses of Zhongrong Fund have been resold, which has increased liquidity for Zhongrong Trust.
The Zhongzhi system explodes, shrinking the financial landscape, or triggering a wider range of financial risks.
Editor in charge: Lian Shuhua#
Tags: inherit Zhongzhi lineXie Zhikuns widow attracts attention Thunder Zhongzhi Department Xie Zhikun
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