Chen Shaofei: Yunnan Copper’s Vice General Manager Was Accused of Defalcation

On July 22, Chen Shaofei, former Vice General Manager, Chief Engineer and Board Secretary of Yunnan Copper Co., Ltd, was on trial in Kunming, Yunnan. He was accused of defalcation and taking briberies. The amount of defalcated money reached 760 million yuan (USD 111.3 million), which was the largest defalcation case in Yunnan since 1949.

Chen, 45, was the financial expert and very skillful in speech and copper business.

According to the public prosecution department, when Yunnan Copper prepared for non-public offering, Zheng Hairuo, Board Chairman of Fubang Assets Management Co., Ltd, and Zheng Nuchang, General Manager of Yunnan Changliming Trade Co., Ltd, collaborated with Chen Shaofei to solve the problem of subscription capital through false financing. In February 2007, Changliming signed a contract with Yunnan Copper about copper ore supply. Yunnan Copper signed and issued a long-term bill of exchange worth 1 billion yuan (USD 146.4 million) to Changliming. Chen Shaofei arranged his company to save 400 million yuan (USD 58.6 million) in the bank as the bail. Through the draft discounting, Zheng Nuchang and his company could get discount capital of 981.37 million yuan (USD 143.7 million). Later, Chen Shaofei borrowed and loaned 190 million yuan (USD 27.8 million) to Fubang. Afterwards, Fubang’s Vice President Wu Baocan sent 1 million yuan (USD 146.4 thousand) to Chen.

Another accusation is that Chen Shaofei once did financing for Chifeng Jinfeng Copper Co., Ltd from 2006 to 2007 and took 2.5 million yuan (USD 365.96 thousand) from this company. It was said that Chen rarely appeared when taking these briberies; instead, his sister and her husband “represented” him.