In a recent scandal at Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as Yunnan Baiyao Company), a well-known pharmaceutical enterprise in mainland China, former chairman Wang Minghui and former chief operating officer and senior vice president Yin Pinyao, along with 5 other executives, were taken in for investigation.
According to reports from Economic Observer Network on May 8th, several informed sources revealed that from the beginning of 2023 to early 2024, Wang Minghui, former chairman of Yunnan Baiyao Company, along with former chief sales officer and senior vice president Wang Jin, former chief operating officer and senior vice president Yin Pinyao, former chief human resources officer Yu Juan, and former director Yang Changhong were all brought in for investigation.
Wang Minghui, born in April 1962 in Luoping, Qujing, Yunnan, was transferred to Yunnan Baiyao Company in May 1999, where he served as a director and president. In May 2004, he took on the role of chairman and president of Yunnan Baiyao until March 2023. Yunnan Baiyao Company announced that Wang Minghui “resigned from the 10th Board of Directors, the chairman, the Board of Directors Strategic Committee, and all positions at Yunnan Baiyao and its subsidiaries for personal reasons.”
Reports suggest that rumors circulating within the pharmaceutical industry, Yunnan’s political circles, and business community indicate that Wang Minghui was taken in for investigation by the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection due to his involvement in the case.
Eight days after Wang Minghui publicly announced his resignation, on March 15, 2023, Yunnan Baiyao Company issued another statement announcing that Wang Jin, chief sales officer and senior vice president, had applied to resign from all positions at the company and its subsidiaries for personal reasons.
Wang Jin previously held positions such as Party Committee Secretary, Deputy Party Committee Secretary, Deputy General Manager and General Manager of the Drug Business Department, General Manager of Production Manufacturing Center, Chief Sales Officer, Senior Vice President, and President of the Drug Business Department at Yunnan Baiyao Company.
By 2024, both Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President Yin Pinyao and Chief Human Resources Officer Yu Juan had left their positions before the end of their tenure, citing “personal reasons” for their departures.
Insiders reported that whether it was Wang Minghui, Wang Jin, Yin Pinyao, or Yu Juan, all were taken in for investigation by the disciplinary inspection department, all related to the same matter.
Furthermore, former director Yang Changhong of Yunnan Baiyao Company is also under investigation.
As of now, the cases of these five individuals are being handled in various locations including Qujing and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan.
Established in 1902, Yunnan Baiyao Company is a renowned mainland Chinese enterprise. It went public as the first Yunnan-listed company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in December 1993. The company’s first-quarter report for 2024 showed that the largest shareholder is Yunnan State-owned Equity Operation and Management Co., Ltd., a state-owned asset management company in Yunnan Province, holding 25.02% of the shares. The second-largest shareholder is Xinhua Du Industrial Group Co., Ltd., controlled by well-known entrepreneur and investor Chen Fashu from Fujian Province, holding 24.25% of the shares.
On May 8, 2024, Yunnan Baiyao Company’s stock closed at 56.90 yuan per share, a decrease of 0.14%.