Police disclosed on Friday that a Chinese tycoon whose disappearance threatened to disrupt deals with mining companies in the United States and Australia is being held on suspicion he helped hide a brother who is a murder suspect.
A newspaper reported this week that Liu Han, chairman of Sichuan Hanlong Group, was detained in mid-March by police in Beijing but a two-sentence statement Friday by the police ministry was the first official word about him.
Liu is under investigation on charges of harbouring a fugitive and other unspecified “serious offenses,” the statement said. It announced the capture of his brother as a “major murder suspect” but gave no other details.
Police spokespeople in Chengdu, where Liu lives, said they had no more information. Phone calls to the police ministry in Beijing were not answered.
Liu’s company said this week it was unable to reach him by phone.
Hanlong owns a 13 per cent stake in General Moly, a miner of molybdenum, a mineral used to harden steel. Hanlong was arranging financing for a mine in Nevada.
General Moly said Wednesday it had suspended work on a US$665 million loan for its Mt. Hope mine from the state-run China Development Bank until it receives clarification from Hanlong.
