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Mbalam Project in Limbo After Hanlong Chair Arrest

Mbalam Project in Limbo After Hanlong Chair Arrest
  • Comments   -   Monday, 25 March 2013 20:51

(Business in Cameroon) - There are renewed doubts about the takeover deal of Sundance resources (owner of Mbalam project) by China's Hanlong Group after its chair Liu Han and his ex-wife were detained by police in Beijing, last Thursday.  

His current wife and other family members were reportedly “under the control of police” in Sichuan province in China’s south. And, details were reported on the Shanghai Securities News website, which gave no reasons for the detention of one of the nation's richest men.

But the website of the People's Daily, the main newspaper of China's Communist Party, said Liu had been detained for gambling-related offences.

Liu's arrest in Beijing came just few days after the National People's Congress closed. Media speculations say Liu's political allies in China's former government had now either retired or been demoted, thus prompting his sudden arrest.

The Chinese legal system does not limit the time that a person can be detained by police without charge. As usual, Liu Han’s name was blocked on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Meanwhile, Sundance confirmed last week that Hanlong had failed to secure a credit-approved term sheet from its financiers, China Development Bank and China Everbright Bank, which it was required to have finalized by Tuesday to advance the two-year-long deal.

Sundance suspended trading in its shares on Wednesday until April 5, to work through the latest issues on the deal, but Sundance managing director, Giulio Casello told The Australian this week that he still believed China was the natural owner of the Mbalam project, and he still believed Hanlong could get there.

However, market speculation suggested Sundance had held talks with parties including Glencore International about the sale of a stake in the Mbalam project.

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