China charges Australian travel executive with embezzlement

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have announced today that Chinese-born businessman Matthew Ng has been charged with embezzlement.

44-year-old Ng, chief executive of Et-China, was detained on November 16 while traveling in Guangzhou, southern China. According to reports, Ng was attempting to sell a subsidiary of his company to Kuoni, a Swiss group, for $84 million USD and this transaction is under scrutiny while the embezzlement charges are being investigated.

Ng’s case has come to light around nine months after Stem Hu was sentenced to ten years in jail by a Shanghai court. Australian executive Hu was judged to be guilty of receiving bribes from steel mills while working in the Chinese iron ore market. However, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has denied that the charges faced by the men are similar.

Ng is one of Austrialia’s most successful overseas businessmen and was honoured as entrepreneur of the year in 2009 by the Australia China Alumni Association. However, difficulties ensued after feuds arose about control of Et-China’s subsidiary, Guangzhou GZL International Travel Services. Amidst the feuds, attention was drawn to the sale of the travel business (of which Guangzhou’s deputy Mayor Wu Yimen is a major backer) and resulted in the embezzlement charges being brought against Ng.

An unnamed representative of Et-china's rich Australian shareholders has recently stated that the new ownership of the Guangzhou business had previously been given the green light by all relevant local authorities and audited numerous times throughout the procedure. He also claimed that the detention of Matthew Ng was the result of executives at Lingnan, the parent company of the Guangzhou business, which had been attempting to upset Mr Ng's sale of the subsidiary to the Kuoni Group.

The Australian government is reviewing the case and monitoring it closely to ensure due legal process is followed. Ng is a family man with his wife and two children having moved to Hong Kong while investigations continue.

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