Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian tycoon who was allegedly arrested in Hong Kong with little explanation in 2017, is expected to stand trial in China on Monday, the Canadian embassy in Beijing told Forbes in a statement, days after Communist Party leaders celebrated the 25th anniversary. He rejected the denunciation of the erosion of the freedoms they had promised to protect.

The Canadian Embassy in China told Forbes it knew a trial involving Xiao would take place on Monday.

Consular officials are following the case “closely,” offering help to Xiao’s circle of relatives and pushing for consular access, he added.

The embassy provided more details about the trial or Xiao for confidentiality reasons, but told Forbes on Tuesday that the Chinese government had rejected several requests from Canadian officials to attend the trial.

Xiao, who controlled the Tomorrow Group conglomerate and had close ties to the circle of relatives of Communist Party leaders, has not been seen in public since 2017 after Chinese police allegedly kidnapped him from a Hong Kong hotel and rushed him across the border from mainland China. .

It’s unclear what charges Xiao could face and the Chinese government has remained silent about it since his demise in 2017.

According to the Wall Street Journal, mentioning others familiar with the matter, prosecutors plan to qualify Xiao for illegally collecting public deposits, a crime that “may result in a criminal sentence of five years or more. “

The disappearance of Xiao, at the time one of China’s richest men, is believed to have been linked to a broad anti-corruption crusade through Chinese President Xi Jinping, which critics say is more aimed at consolidating force only to eliminate corruption. corruption. Little has been heard of Xiao since his disappearance and his business empire has now been dismantled. According to The Guardian, Xiao denied being kidnapped in two social media posts on his company account, whether they have been deleted and there are many unknowns surrounding his disappearance. The incident firmly dismissed the notion that China’s wealthy elite was beyond the reach of Beijing. It has also raised deep questions about Hong Kong’s independence and the long haul amid a wave of disappearances feared to be offshore cadre of Chinese agents. At the time of Xiao’s disappearance, only the Hong Kong police can legally operate in the city. Since then, Beijing has pushed through a sweeping security law that provides Beijing with radical forces to crack down on dissent in the city and critics say has eroded the freedoms China promised to protect.

Missing Billionaires: Jack Ma and Chinese Tycoons Who Mysteriously Disappeared From The Radar (Forbes)

China dismantles the empire of a disappeared (NYT)