The future of a secretive Hong Kong-based business network at the heart of China’s advance into Africa has been thrown into doubt after reports that its frontman, a jet-setting tycoon with seven names and ties to the intelligence services, has been caught up in a Communist party investigation.
Mr Pa’s detention came a day after Chinese state media announced that Su Shulin, the governor of Fujian Province and a former chairman of state-owned oil group Sinopec, had been placed under investigation for “suspected serious disciplinary offences” by the ruling party’s anti-graft body.
Mr. Pa was the main focus of a May 2015 US military report on predatory investments in the Continent’s extractive sector. It will be interesting to see if Pa’s arrest has any tangible effect on Chinese dealings with the handful of economically opaque dictatorial regimes on the Continent (esp Angola).
kenopalo.com 