Chinese authorities have arrested and charged Yunnan Tin chairman Lei Yi for accepting bribes, in the latest example of the country’s crackdown on graft. Reuters reported that he had been charged with taking 20 million yuan ($3.27 million) in bribes from four people, quoting a Yunnan government official website. According to the website some of the payments came from a company called Leed International Education Group and were related to the establishment and sale of YTC’s share in a private college in the province. Leed was co-founded by a “foreign investment group,” which Reuters identified as Goldman Sachs.
An official at Yunnan Tin said the company had not received any legal documents about Lei’s case and the company was still trying to confirm the details, adding that production and sales had not been affected.
It was originally reported in July that Mr Lei was under investigation for alleged “serious disciplinary violations”. At that time Vice Chairman Gao Wenxiang took over the responsibilities of the chairman. Yunnan Tin has been the world’s largest tin producer for the last eight years, producing 69,760 tonnes of refined metal in 2012.
