[The Epoch Times, December 14, 2022]Zhang Li, one of the founders, co-chairman and president of R&F Properties, was arrested in the UK and accused of bribery in the US continues to ferment. The process of bribing key US government officials was exposed by the media.
On the night of December 12, news spread that Zhang Li was arrested in the UK. In this regard, R&F Group issued a statement on its official WeChat account late at night, confirming the authenticity of the rumor. R&F Real Estate stated in a statement that Zhang Li was accused of bribery for hosting a banquet in China for the former executive of the San Francisco Public Works Department and providing him with hotel accommodation, and he is taking legal action against this false accusation.
According to media reports, on December 12, Zhang Li was temporarily released after paying a bail of 15 million pounds to the local court. At present, Zhang Li is living under surveillance on the 43rd floor of the London Tower Bridge apartment, and Zhang Li is also raising objections to the US to avoid extradition to the United States.
On the morning of the 13th, R&F Properties stated in an announcement that the company was aware of media reports that a London court had granted bail to the company’s director Zhang Li in a pending case in the United States about Z&L Properties Inc. The company has not provided any bond for the bail, it has no interest in Z&L Properties Inc. (owned by Zhang Li and its affiliates) and the case will not have any material adverse impact on the company’s business and operations.
On December 13, the financial media “Acorn Business” reported that it had obtained the investigation documents of the US official on Muhammad Nuru, the target of Zhang Li’s bribery. The documents recorded the relationship between Zhang Li and Muhammad Nuru.
Nuru wields the “life and death power” of the real estate industry in San Francisco, and he is a key government official who approves some construction permits. In 2008, Nuru met Huang Yongle, director of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. Since then, Huang Yongle has become Nuru’s “white glove”.
On November 4, 2018, Mohammed Nuru, director of Public Works in San Francisco, USA, returned to San Francisco from China with his daughter and Chinese broker Walter Wong in business class.
At 9:21 p.m., as soon as he entered the house, Nuru couldn’t wait to call his girlfriend Sandra Zuniga (Sandra Zuniga), who works in the San Francisco mayor’s office, “Oh my God, we had too much fun in China. Happy.”
At that time, the FBI’s wiretapping recording system was activated, fully recording Nuru’s “wonderful trip to China” paid for by Zhang Li, the co-chairman of R&F Properties.
Nuru described: He (Zhang Zhang) is my friend, ranked fifth in China’s richest list; he has a multi-million dollar development project in San Francisco; he also has a private jet, “Oh my god, it’s really big.”
They were taken to the Park Hyatt in a Mercedes-Benz van, and Nuru said they have been treated like “royalties” ever since.
Zhang Li once took Nuru to visit his home, and the scene there was unforgettable for Nuru. Nuru described his home as a “museum” and “White House”, and the rich man told him that the house was worth 1 billion US dollars.
Nuru saw a large number of works of art and famous paintings he collected, as well as some “stones” (suspected uncut diamonds), and the rich man also gave them a few pieces.
In the evening, Zhang Li entertained Nuru and his party with 50-year-old Moutai, and told him that the bottle alone was worth 10,000 US dollars. After a night’s rest, Zhang Li took out a bottle of 2,000 US dollars of French wine for Nuru to enjoy.
Huang Yongle told Nuru that Zhang Li usually doesn’t live here, and it’s only used to receive guests; in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, there are four floors dedicated to the daily residence of the rich; in the United States, the rich also own a lot of real estate. As a guest, I also found that another guest at the table was the vice president of a certain country.
When Nuru returned to China, Zhang Li also gave him a bottle of wine worth 2,070 US dollars.
In August 2015, R&F Properties acquired the 555 Fulton project in San Francisco’s “Silicon Valley”. The project covers an area of about 2 acres, close to an entire block, and can build two high-rise apartment buildings with a total of 643 houses.
However, difficulties were encountered in the approval process: the indictment showed that the windows of the project were made in Mexico, had certain defects, and had potential safety hazards, so they could not pass the official review.
At this time, Huang Yongle appeared. As a broker, he bribed Nuru and settled the problem of R&F Real Estate’s Fulton No. 555 project.
This also has the aforementioned “Wonderful China Journey”.
In January 2020, Nuru’s bribery incident came to light, and he was arrested and prosecuted for corruption in public power, and the relevant investigation recordings were attached to the indictment; Hand over $1.45 million “free contract.”
According to the latest document released by the US official in August this year, the prosecution recommended that the court sentence Nuru to 108 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release and a fine of 35,000 US dollars.
Tension is also involved.
Zhang Li started to engage in real estate development in 1993, and co-founded R&F Real Estate Group in Guangzhou with Li Silian in August 1994, making the company one of the representative real estate companies in the South China real estate circle.
Before founding R&F Properties, he served as Secretary of the Youth League Committee of Guangzhou Second Light Industry Bureau and Chief of the Production Section of Guangzhou Baiyun District Township Enterprise Administration.
In 2022, Zhang Li, Zhang Liang and his son will rank 296th on the 2022 Hurun Report with a wealth of 19 billion.
In 1994, Zhang Li and Hong Kong businessman Li Silian jointly established R&F Real Estate with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, and the two each hold half of the shares.
R&F Real Estate was one of the “Five Tigers of South China” in the real estate industry in the past. In the summer of 2017, Li Silian, one of the founders and co-chairman, spent 19.91 billion yuan to acquire 77 hotels of Wanda under the former “China’s richest man” Wang Jianlin, and Much public attention.
However, in the past few years, R&F Properties has not gotten out of the “high debt, low turnover” investment cycle. Previously, the financing conditions under the “three red lines” were tightened, which caused R&F Properties to fall into a liquidity crisis.
In 2021, R&F Real Estate will suffer a huge loss of 16.5 billion yuan, and will be in deep trouble of loan default.
Responsible editor: Fang Xiao#