BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Beijing police declined to comment on Monday about media reports that Huang Guangyu, China's home appliance tycoon, is under investigation for stock market manipulation.

    The police told Xinhua the case is under the direct charge of the Ministry of Public Security, where a person who answered the phone on Monday declined to give his name but said he was unclear about the case.

Beijing police declined to comment on Monday about media reports that Huang Guangyu, China's home appliance tycoon, is under investigation for stock market manipulation.(Photo Source: Shanghai Securities News) Photo Gallery>>>

    According to the Beijing News, Huang is under police investigation for stock market manipulation.

    Shares in his company, the Hong Kong-listed Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd., were suspended on Monday, ahead of the scheduled release of third-quarter results.

    At noon on Monday, Gome sent a statement to Xinhua, which said the management was "trying to verify" the reports. Gome also denied having received any legal documents from any single department concerning what the statement called "hearsay".

    The statement also said that Gome management was functioning as normal.

    Huang, 39, whose personal wealth is estimated at 43 billion yuan (about 6.14 billion U.S. dollars), is the richest man on the Chinese mainland, according to the 2008 Hurun Rich list.

    The appliance chain has 1,300 outlets in more than 300 Chinese cities with 300,000 employees. Huang is also a real estate investor.

    In third-quarter results released on Monday, the company said its net profits rose 111 percent in the first nine months from the same period a year earlier to 1.59 billion yuan.

    Gross profit increased 27.98 percent to 3.57 billion yuan while operating revenue hit 36.4 billion yuan, a growth of 20 percent, the company said.

    "Gome is a mature, well-administered company. Its business and management all are operating normally," company spokesman He Yangqing said.

    "The company performed excellently over the first nine months, and the management team are full of confidence in future growth," he said.



Chinese mainland richest man under police probe

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Huang Guangyu, China's home appliance tycoon, is under police investigation for stock market manipulation, according to local media. Full story