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10 I Companies & Markets bne April 2018
Ye Jiangming, the 39-year-old CEO of CEFC China Energy. Photo: China Energy Fund Committee
CEFC chairman revealed to be
under investigation
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The top men of Czech President Milos Zeman – Chancellor Vratislav Mynar, key advisor Martin Nejedly and Jaroslav Tvrdik, a representative of China Energy Company Limited (CEFC) in Czechia – have revealed that the chairman of CEFC is being investigated and will step down as head of the company.
CEFC was already reported to have financial problems, leading to speculation that deals recently announced in countries including Czechia, Russia and Romania could collapse.
CEFC has been particularly active in the Czech Republic, where its chairman Ye Jianming was appointed an adviser
to Zeman – a position he has retained despite the current problems. Jianming has been an economic adviser to Zeman since 2015, and CEFC bought a series of medium-sized Czech and Slovak assets in something of a frenzy the same year, though it has since largely slipped back behind the scenes.
Following reports that Jianming had been detained, Mynar, Nejedly and Tvrdik were dispatched to China on a fact-finding mission to look into the situation.
“The Chinese side provided information that Ye Jianming is being investigated. The investigation is not against a corporate body of CEFC China and all the concerned sides declared
their support for the Czech-Chinese co-operation project and for a project of CEFC Europe under One Belt One Road,” the president’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said.
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Ovcacek also sought to play down Jianming’s role as an advisor to Zeman. Jianming has been seen as a middleman between Czechia and the Chinese regime, even though, formally, CEFC is a private company.
In an interview with Radiozurnal programme, Ovcacek stated: “In the case of this advisor [Ye Jianming], the post is really sym- bolic. Mr President is meeting his advisors once a quarter a year at Prague Castle without this one. It is really an honorary post, which should symbolise a new stage of Czech-Chinese relations”.
Asked why the Castle is so eager to keep Jianming, Ovcacek responded that, “We [the Castle] are waiting for an investigation of the issue.”
“Deals recently announced in countries including Czechia, Russia and Romania could collapse”
In addition to the news that Jianming is being investigated, Zeman’s top men also reported back that a company owned by the Chinese state is entering CEFC as a minority shareholder. The company has not been named, but according to Czech weekly Tyden.cz, it is believed to be CITIC Group, the 156th biggest company in the world, owned by the Chinese regime.