Auto magnate Yang Rong, the third- richest man on China's mainland, according to Forbes, is the latest member of the ultra rich to find himself on the wrong side of the law.

Shanghai Shenhua Holdings Co. Ltd. announced yesterday that authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Yang, the company's chairman. Like other tycoons in trouble, he is alleged to have committed economic crimes.

Police from the northeastern province of Liaoning informed the company on Monday that they were seeking Yang, who owns 0.86 percent of the Shanghai-listed company's stock.

Yang was the former chairman, president and chief executive of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd., China's largest minivan maker and the first Chinese mainland company to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

In June, Brilliance China stripped Yang all but one of his corporate posts because "his goals and views are no longer in line with those of the (other) shareholders," following media reports that he and other senior executives are under investigation for alleged asset-stripping.

Brilliance China announced yesterday that its shares were suspended from trading in Hong Kong pending further disclosures.

The company said the arrest of Yang, who remained its director, will not affect its normal operations, adding that the company itself is not under investigation and none of its other executives have been questioned.

Last year, Forbes magazine estimated the 47-year-old economist-turned entrepreneur's assets were worth 7 billion yuan (US$840 million).

Yang is reported to be in United States, where he has a green card.

Yang's troubles are another sign that China is stepping up a war on corruption that has claimed four of the mainland's most high-profile tycoons in recent months.

Prosecutors announced earlier this month that former Everbright Group Chairman Zhu Xiaohua was sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking bribes totalling more than 4 million yuan between 1997 and 1999.

Yang Bin, an orchid tycoon described by Forbes magazine last year as the second-richest man on China's mainland, was placed under house arrest last week on tax-evasion charges, not long after he was picked to run an experimental free trade zone in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Forbes ranked Yang as the second- richest man on China's mainland last year, with a wealth of 900 million yuan.

China State Power Corp. President Gao Yan may be another target of the anti-graft push. His office said that it didn't know where he was following an October 8 report in the Hong Kong Economic Journal that he was arrested on suspicion of corruption.

Former film star Liu Xiaoqing is another tycoon trading in her fancy villa for a room behind bars after Beijing police arrested her in June on charges of tax evasion. The 41-year-old turned her big screen fame into business success after setting up a real estate company in 1990.

Two years ago Forbes listed her as the 45th-richest on China's mainland, with assets worth roughly 70 million yuan.

All these arrests could have some of the country's top business barons wondering whether to celebrate or call their lawyer when Forbes publishes its third-annual ranking on Saturday.

(Shanghai Daily October 24, 2002)