Founder and CEO of a well known Australian company have been arrested in China for getting into a controversial business dispute with the Chinese joint venture partner. Guangzhou Police has refused to grant his application for bail.Nine years ago, an Australian iron ore businessman named Stern Hu has been sentenced to eleven years in jail. This has raised fear among the foreign investors that China’s business atmosphere is very much tilted against the overseas business people. The interesting fact is that China is the biggest trading partner of Australia.
Mr. Ng is the founder of a well known company named Et-China and it is considered to be one of the largest private travel companies in China. He was even successful in making the company listed on the London Stock exchange.
The feud was over the control of the profitable subsidiary of his company. The subsidiary was named as Guangzhou GZL International Travel services and the feud was with Guangzhou Lingan International Enterprise Group. The latter has got the backing of Guangzhou deputy mayor Wu Yimen.
Local media are reporting that Mr. Ng has acquired the Guangzhou business and while doing so, he has breached the foreign ownership regulation that exists in the land of China. However, an Australian representative of Et-China has said that the acquisition was approved by all local authorities and was audited many times.
In May 2009, Mr. Ng was honored by the Australia China Alumni Association as the entrepreneur of the year. The Australian officials feel that it was a plan by the senior executives at the partner company as they were quite disgruntled over Mr. Nag’s decision to sell the company to a Swedish gentleman.
