'Beautiful boss' found by police in Shanghai
By Yang Jian |
March 30, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A WOMAN who disappeared after borrowing about 400 million yuan (US$63 million) from private lenders has been detained in Shanghai, authorities said yesterday.
Gu Chunfang, 40, a trading company owner dubbed the "most beautiful boss" because of her looks, went missing from Changshu, a city in neighboring Jiangsu Province, early this month.
Police said she was caught in Shanghai on Tuesday night. Gu inflicted injuries on herself when police were arresting her at her rented residence in Shanghai but the injuries were not life-threatening, Xia Jiangang, Changshu's deputy police chief, told a press conference.
Changshu police began receiving reports from more than 20 citizens on March 5 that she had disappeared after borrowing money from them.
Police said Gu had been cheating lenders from as long ago as 2008 by saying her business needed money and promising to pay an annual interest rate of about 30 percent on loans.
Gu's Suzhou Kaiweilong Trading Co Ltd, founded in 2008 with registered capital of 10 million yuan, was engaged in the trading of cement, metals, lubricants, chemical fibers, daily commodities, fabrics and hardware. She also operated a clothing shop and a high-end manicure salon that closed after her disappearance.
Gu, who is divorced, grew up in Changshu but failed to graduate from junior high school. She worked as a fashion model and had a number of other jobs before starting her own business.
One of her alleged victims said Gu had a wide range of friends, among them bank and governmental officials.
She borrowed money from them and, at first, paid it back on time with the promised high interest rates, establishing a good reputation.
But when her company began to suffer financial troubles last year she went back to her old friends asking for more money in a bid to save the business. However, that seemed to have failed and she disappeared, the victim said.
Wang Shafeng, another alleged victim who lent Gu 600,000 yuan, said: "She wore fashionable dresses and liked to talk about the economy both home and abroad when she persuaded us to lend money to her." Wang said Gu had promised to pay the money back at an annual interest rate of 35 percent.
The Changshu government said yesterday they were still investigating a similar case where restaurant boss Zhou Siyang disappeared at the end of February after borrowing 230 million yuan from banks and unknown amounts from the private lenders.
Zhou, boss of the Changshu Carp Gate Restaurant, is said to have set up subsidiary companies and used some as guarantors for others to attract large sums of money from banks and private lenders as investments, the government said.
Private lending has become increasingly popular in Changshu in recent years and police have been issuing warnings about the risks involved.
Gu Chunfang, 40, a trading company owner dubbed the "most beautiful boss" because of her looks, went missing from Changshu, a city in neighboring Jiangsu Province, early this month.
Police said she was caught in Shanghai on Tuesday night. Gu inflicted injuries on herself when police were arresting her at her rented residence in Shanghai but the injuries were not life-threatening, Xia Jiangang, Changshu's deputy police chief, told a press conference.
Changshu police began receiving reports from more than 20 citizens on March 5 that she had disappeared after borrowing money from them.
Police said Gu had been cheating lenders from as long ago as 2008 by saying her business needed money and promising to pay an annual interest rate of about 30 percent on loans.
Gu's Suzhou Kaiweilong Trading Co Ltd, founded in 2008 with registered capital of 10 million yuan, was engaged in the trading of cement, metals, lubricants, chemical fibers, daily commodities, fabrics and hardware. She also operated a clothing shop and a high-end manicure salon that closed after her disappearance.
Gu, who is divorced, grew up in Changshu but failed to graduate from junior high school. She worked as a fashion model and had a number of other jobs before starting her own business.
One of her alleged victims said Gu had a wide range of friends, among them bank and governmental officials.
She borrowed money from them and, at first, paid it back on time with the promised high interest rates, establishing a good reputation.
But when her company began to suffer financial troubles last year she went back to her old friends asking for more money in a bid to save the business. However, that seemed to have failed and she disappeared, the victim said.
Wang Shafeng, another alleged victim who lent Gu 600,000 yuan, said: "She wore fashionable dresses and liked to talk about the economy both home and abroad when she persuaded us to lend money to her." Wang said Gu had promised to pay the money back at an annual interest rate of 35 percent.
The Changshu government said yesterday they were still investigating a similar case where restaurant boss Zhou Siyang disappeared at the end of February after borrowing 230 million yuan from banks and unknown amounts from the private lenders.
Zhou, boss of the Changshu Carp Gate Restaurant, is said to have set up subsidiary companies and used some as guarantors for others to attract large sums of money from banks and private lenders as investments, the government said.
Private lending has become increasingly popular in Changshu in recent years and police have been issuing warnings about the risks involved.
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