The announcement on October 30 of well-known peasant millionaire Sun Dawu being sentenced to three years’ jail and four years’ probation for illegal fd-rasing highlighted for many the pitfalls of China’s financial system, which impede the development of private domestic enterprises.Not long after Sun was detained by local police in Hebei Province this July, Beijing Today visited Xushui county, where Sun has built his empire since 1985, and published the story on page 1 on July 25.
Sun Dawu, 49, chairman of Dawu Agriculture and Breeding Group, was accused in September by Xushui County Procuratorate Court of violating banking laws and State Council regulations by borrowing over 13 million yuan from almost 5,000 local farmers since 1995. The amount stood as high as 181 million yuan at the beginning of Sun’s detention.“Local villagers volunteered to invest their money in our copany to support our development, because Dawu Group has contributed a lot to the local economy over these years,” said Sun’s son Sun Meng, now acting chairman of the GroupDawu Group has provided jobs to over 300 people in Langwuzhuang village and paid salaries totaling over two million yuan per year, according to him. Sun Dawu also established the private Dawu High School in 1998, keeping tuition charges low so that the school was reliant on funds from the Group to keep operating. After investing nearly 1.7 million yuan in the school, Sun began to seek outside financing to support its operation.
