By Philip Lenczycki for the Daily Caller Foundation | May 12, 2023
The Hong Kong corporation that allegedly wired funds to Hunter Biden’s business in 2017 was controlled by a Shanghai firm run by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some of whom had previously served in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to business documents and congressional reports reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
On June 30, 2017, Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) Ltd. wired $10 million to the Delaware-based company CEFC Infrastructure, which then wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s “professional corporation,” Owasco P.C., on August 4, 2017, a House Oversight Committee memo revealed Wednesday, alleging the transfers were part of a scheme to conceal the Chinese origin of the funds.
However, at the time of the 2017 wire transfer, 100% of Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) Ltd.’s shares were held by a company called CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd., which was run by multiple members of the CCP, according to a 2017 Shanghai stock exchange filing.
CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd. is also identified as the owner of Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) in a 2020 Senate Homeland Security Committee report, which further characterized Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) as a Chinese “state-owned enterprise.” The report also noted that CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd. was “controlled” by Shanghai Guosheng Group, “another state-owned enterprise.”
Furthermore, CEFC Shanghai International Group’s “director,” Su Weizhong, whom the 2017 Shanghai stock exchange filing lists as one of its two “actual controllers,” is a CCP member, according to the filings.
A 2017 Chinese government article also identified Su Weizhong as a member of the “discipline inspection commission” at China Energy Fund Committee, which was controlled by the CCP’s Discipline Inspection Commission, according to an archived version of China Energy Fund Committee’s website.
The CCP tasks the Discipline Inspection Commission with “rooting out wrongdoing among public servants” and “enforcing loyalty” to the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping, according to a 2021 Congressional Research Service report concerning China’s political system.
CEFC Shanghai International Group’s other “actual controller,” Zheng Xiongbin, is not listed as a CCP member by the 2017 filings.
However, CEFC Shanghai International Group’s “general manager” and “legal representative,” Li Yong, is also listed as a CCP member in the filings with the Shanghai stock exchange.
Several other “directors” and “supervisors” of CEFC Shanghai International Group are also CCP members, according to the 2017 stock filing, including “director” Chen Qiang, as well as “chief supervisor” Dong Jinqiang and “supervisor” Xiong Fengsheng.
Additionally, Chen Qiang, Dong Jinqiang and Xiong Fengsheng are all listed as having previously served in the PLA, according to the filing.
While Dong Jinqiang formerly served as the CCP party secretary at several PLA posts, and Xiong Fengsheng previously served as president of a PLA hospital, Chen Qiang served as a PLA commander in Nanjing before joining CEFC Shanghai International Group, the stock filing states.
The House Oversight Committee’s Wednesday memorandum alleged that Hunter Biden’s business partner, Gongwen “Kevin” Dong, orchestrated a complex plot involving multiple intermediary companies to conceal Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) Ltd. as the original source of millions of dollars of outbound cash — at least some of which ultimately made it to Hunter Biden’s firm, according to the memo.
“Chinese nationals and companies with significant ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party hid the source of the funds by layering domestic limited liability companies,” the memo stated.
The memo characterized Dong as the “emissary in the United States” for Ye Jianming, the “chairman” of China Energy Fund Committee.
In addition to heading China Energy Fund Committee, Ye also served as the “deputy secretary-general” of the China Association of International Friendly Contact (CAIFC), according to the memo.
CAIFC is “an international outreach arm” for the People’s Liberation Army as well as a “platform for deploying undercover intelligence gatherers,” the memo stated.
In 2018, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission described CAIFC as performing “intelligence collection,” “propaganda” and “perception management campaigns.”
Ye Jianming, who was arrested on bribery charges by Chinese authorities in 2018, allegedly used the China Energy Fund Committee to “bribe and corruptly influence foreign officials,” according to the memo, which also cited the 2019 international bribery and money laundering conviction of China Energy Fund Committee employee Patrick Ho.
Ho was sentenced to three years in prison for two bribery schemes he conducted against African government officials in New York, according to the Department of Justice.
The House Oversight Committee report alleges that bank records for the 2017 wire transfers from Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong), CEFC Infrastructure and Owasco P.C. “disproves President Biden’s claim that his family received no money from China.”
The White House and Gongwen Dong did not respond immediately to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Hunter Biden and representatives from Shanghai Huaxin Group (Hong Kong) and CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd. could not be reached for comme
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