Pangu employees admit destroying documents for Guo Wengui

Three employees of Beijing Pangu Investment, a company controlled by fugitive Guo Wengui, pleaded guilty on Monday to destroying documents related to an investigation into public spending.

Ma Cheng, Sheng Ruigang and Guo Wencun destroyed evidence of accounts worth a combined 400 million yuan ($60.3 million) after being contacted by authorities looking into extravagant spending by public servants in August 2013.

They appeared at a public hearing at Dalian Xigang District People's Court in Liaoning province on Monday, according to local prosecutors.

Guo Wencun and another Pangu employee, Zhao Guangdong, also admitted restricting the personal freedom of Xu Zhaohui — a person Guo Wengui suspected of occupying his assets — for more than 50 hours in March 2014.

In November 2012, the pair also lured Huang Zheng — a person Guo Wengui suspected of writing unfavorable online comments about him — to Beijing from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

The victim was searched, beaten and forced to write a letter of remorse before being put on a flight back home, according to prosecutors.

All four defendants said they had been acted under the instruction of Guo Wengui.

Guo Wengui, the property tycoon, fled China in August 2014 after being accused of multiple crimes. He is subject to an Interpol red notice, a kind of international arrest warrant.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn