An international scam worth CNY 6.6 billion comes to an end, with the formal launch of the judicial auction of assets owned by Saleen Automobile. Its CEO is suspected of embezzling state-owned capital.
As updated on the website of Nantong Intermediate People's Court, Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Company (Chinese: 赛麟汽车) will be put up for auction from May 30, with bids starting at CNY 2.38 billion (USD 360 million)
According to the website’s judicial auction page, the assets to be auctioned off include land use rights, above-ground buildings, production lines, assembly lines and related machineries and equipment.
Saleen was founded in 1983 by American professional car racer Steve Saleen. In 2014, he sold the eponymous brand Saleen to Wang Xiaolin, a Chinese businessman. At the time, the predecessor of Saleen Automobile, Rugao High-tech Entrepreneurship Service Co., Ltd, was held by Nantong Jiahe, a wholly state-owned shareholder.
After a capital increase in 2016, Wang became the chairman and CEO of what became known as Saleen Automobile, and the carmaker was changed to a non-state-owned holding company.
What happened next has been a Chinese version of the Theranos hoax. In May 2020, Qiao Yudong, former legal manager at Saleen, blew the whistle on Wang, the CEO, that he made false claims about technology investment and embezzled a huge amount of state capital
In a revelation Qiao made on a real-name basis, he alleged that Wang inflated the costs of two car-making technologies, valued at USD 500,000 and USD 20 million, to as much as CNY 5.5 billion (USD 826 million) and CNY 1.1 billion, and translated them into equity ownership.
This act infringed on the rights and interests of state-owned investors, Qiao said.
In fact, only Nantong Jiahe, the state-owned shareholder, has invested in Saleen Automobile, and the remaining four shareholders are shell companies controlled by Wang.
Subsequently, Nantong Intermediate People's Court closed down two local factories of Saleen Auto, froze the equity of four companies held by Wang, and shuttered Saleen Auto’s Shanghai branch.
Built with a cost of CNY 5 billion (USD 751 million), Saleen’s only product to hit the market was a pure electric minicar priced at CNY 160,000 (USD 24,048), which sold 31 units.