On November 20th, the Yihai Kerry Golden Dragon Fish Food Group Co., Ltd. (Golden Dragon Fish) stated that it does not accept the court’s judgment against its subsidiary and has filed an appeal. This legal case involves a 5 billion yuan fraud case.
In the announcement titled “Progress Report on the Criminal Indictment Received by Subsidiary Company” issued by Golden Dragon Fish on the 20th, it stated that “the subsidiary company Guangzhou Yihai (Yihai (Guangzhou) Grain and Oil Industry Co., Ltd.) received the first-instance “Criminal Judgment” of case No. (2024) Wan 06 Xing Chu 3 issued by the Huainan Intermediate People’s Court.” “Guangzhou Yihai appealed in court, and both Guangzhou Yihai and the company do not accept the first-instance judgment. The company will also fully support Guangzhou Yihai’s appeal according to the law.”
The judgment ruled that “Guangzhou Yihai committed contract fraud,” and “ordered the defendant unit Guangzhou Yihai to bear joint compensation responsibility for the economic losses of Anhui Huawen International Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. (Anhui Huawen) in the amount of RMB 1.881 billion and Yunnan Huijia Import and Export Co., Ltd. (Yunnan Huijia).”
According to a report by “Caixin” on November 21st, at an investor briefing on the first-instance criminal judgment of Guangzhou Yihai held in the afternoon of November 21st, the Chairman and General Manager of Guangzhou Yihai, Fang Yanjiang, stated that Yunnan Huijia engaged in long-term bribery of senior executives and employees of Anhui Huawen, jointly falsifying information, resulting in significant losses and attempting to illegally transfer the losses to Guangzhou Yihai. Guangzhou Yihai did not participate in any “fraudulent behavior,” nor was aware of it, and did not engage in any assisting actions.
The report mentioned that the lawsuit involves a massive 5 billion yuan palm oil fraud case.
From 2008 to 2014, Guangzhou Yihai, acting as a transit storage intermediary, signed a “Transit Agreement” with Anhui Huawen and Yunnan Huijia, responsible for storing palm oil imported by Yunnan Huijia through Anhui Huawen.
The head of Yunnan Huijia, Zhang Lihua, first bribed the then Chairman of Anhui Huawen, Wang Min, and the then Vice General Manager and CFO of Anhui Huawen, Wang Xiaohu, to change the agreed-upon “payment before delivery” trading model to “delivery before payment,” using forged “reconciliation statements” and other means to conceal the fact that the palm oil stored in facilities like Guangzhou Yihai had already been sold. After removing a substantial amount of goods, Yunnan Huijia failed to make full payment to Anhui Huawen, causing direct economic losses of 3.23 billion yuan to Anhui Huawen and indirect losses of 2.015 billion yuan.
Following the incident, individuals involved with Yunnan Huijia, Anhui Huawen, and Guangzhou Yihai were arrested, with Guangzhou Yihai also being listed as one of the defendants.
In response, lawyer Xu Hao from the Beijing Jing Shi Law Firm analyzed to “Caixin” that without seeing the first-instance judgment, it is currently impossible to evaluate the specific case. However, based on the information publicly available, it appears that Yunnan Huijia bribed some employees of Guangzhou Yihai. Whether Guangzhou Yihai as an entity obtained illegal benefits from this and the specific circumstances need to be further understood after relevant parties disclose more details about the case.
Public information shows that Yihai Kerry Golden Dragon Fish Food Group Co., Ltd. is a leading Chinese agricultural and food processing company headquartered in Shanghai. It was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2020 and owns well-known brands such as Golden Dragon Fish, Olevrai Lan, Hujihua, and Xiangmanyuan.