On December 17, 2022, Li Hejun, the former richest man in China, founder of the Hanergy Department, and former chairman of the board of directors of Hanergy Holding Group was taken away by the Jinzhou police in Liaoning to assist in the investigation. As of January 10, 2023, Li Hejun has yet to be released.
Li Hejun started from scratch and borrowed 50,000 yuan from his university teacher to establish the Hanergy Group in 1989. After more than 20 years of development, Hanergy has become the world's largest private hydropower and thin-film solar energy enterprise.
In February 2015, Li Hejun topped the "Hurun Global Rich List 2015" with a net worth of 160 billion yuan, surpassing Ma Yun and Wang Jianlin to become the 12th richest man in China in the past 16 years on the Hurun Report. Li Hejun's listed company, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd., in Hong Kong, holds a market value of 80 billion yuan. Li also has non-listed hydropower, solar energy, and other industries.
However, in May 2015, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd. was investigated by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission for alleged market manipulation. On May 20, 2015, the share price of Hanergy Thin Film Power dropped by 46.95% that day, and the total market value shrank from HK$307.3 billion at the close of the previous trading day, to HK$163.1 billion, a day of HK$144.2 billion evaporated. Li Hejun then fell from the throne. In July 2015, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in response to the order of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, stopped the trading of Hanergy Thin Film Power's shares. In June 2019, Hanergy Thin Film Power finally completed the privatization of Hong Kong stocks through stock replacement and was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It is understood that Li Hejun's being taken away this time is related to the loan from the Bank of Jinzhou. According to the Bank of Jinzhou prospectus, the financial relationship between the Bank of Jinzhou and Hanergy Group is 9.461 billion yuan, and the risk exposure is 2.77 billion yuan. At the beginning of 2022, bidding information showed that the Yingkou Public Security Bureau launched a massive fraud case involving Hanergy Dongtai Hi-Tech and required an audit.
In 2019, a large area of wage arrears broke out in the Hanergy department. The Paper once reported that thousands of Hanergy employees were involved in wage arrears and could not get wages and reimbursement. Long-term arrears from distributors and suppliers also had no way to claim. Individuals, suppliers, financial institutions, local state-owned enterprises, and local governments continue to sue Hanergy companies in court.
The collapse of the former richest man Li Hejun and Hanergy's business empire is rooted in their deformed business model and capital operation.
To put it simply, Hanergy played a capital scam game by selling production equipment to the parent company, afterward buying back the materials produced by the parent company, and then installing them to the downstream companies of the parent company or other companies. Hanergy Film can quickly obtain a net profit margin of more than 50% through a simple operation mode of left and right hands.
Under the "dazzling" performance, its stock price has also begun to take off. The outside world's doubts about this "monster stock" also involve stock price manipulation-Hanergy Thin Film's stock price has doubled seven times in half a year, and its peak market value surpassed all other solar-listed companies in China.
"Full of crap", "pie in the sky", "to whom the thin-film modules are sold", and "where does the money come from "... In the photovoltaic industry, more doubts are coming out about Hanergy and Li Hejun.
With the rapid expansion of the global photovoltaic market, thin-film technology has been largely marginalized. However, it still cannot support Li Hejun's photovoltaic ambitions, and his aspirations finally put himself in trouble.
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