{"id":3814,"date":"2018-03-14T19:29:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T18:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/?p=3814"},"modified":"2020-02-04T19:39:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T18:39:38","slug":"zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeman’s Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC’s Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was meant to be one of the biggest Chinese investments in the Czech Republic. Now a deal giving the Chinese energy giant CEFC a 50 percent stake in the financial company J&T Finance Group looks highly uncertain as do CEFC\u2019s other activities in the country. The company is reported to be in financial straits and its CEO under arrest for economic crime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CEFC\u2019s investments in the Czech Republic were the toast of Czech-Chinese negotiations following a restart in bilateral relations. President Zeman hailed the fact that CEFC made the Czech Republic its European \u201cheadquarters\u201d as a major success in his economic diplomacy drive and he appointed the company\u2019s CEO Ye Jianming his special advisor for China.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In late February South China Morning Post reported that the company\u2019s CEO had been arrested on suspicion of economic crime and the management of CEFC China Energy had been taken over by the state agency Shanghai Guosheng Group. Although the company denied the reports and the news was not officially confirmed by the Chinese authorities, a delegation of Czech state officials which travelled to China to ascertain the state of affairs said it had received confirmation of these developments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The news has inevitably raised concern among the Czech businesses which have deals with CEFC and its activities in this country are extensive. The company has assets worth 1.5 billion euros in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

J&T Finance Group has demanded an explanation saying that unless CEFC reliably disproves reports of major economic problems and explains the reasons for the alleged prosecution of its senior official, the completion of the long-prepared transaction for CEFC\u2019s entry to the J&T Finance Group would not take place. Monika Vesela is spokeswoman for the group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cJ&T Finance Group last week officially asked CEFC\u2019s leading representatives for a clear, official stand on the claims that have appeared both in the local and foreign press these past few weeks.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

J&T did not provide further details, but according to the news site Echo.24 the Czech National Bank earlier this year refused to approve the transaction under which CEFC would raise its share in the Czech-Slovak J&T Finance Group from 9.9 to 50 percent, a deal worth 25 billion crowns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Czech shareholders in Travel Service airlines are asking to buy back CEFC\u2019s share in the company, and the firm\u2019s other partners are increasingly nervous as well. CEFC has shares in the travel agency Invia.cz, it is in control of the Lobkowicz Group breweries, the engineering and metallurgical company \u017d\u010fas \u017d\u010f\u00e1r nad S\u00e1zavou and is a majority shareholder of the Slavia football team and football stadium EDEN Arena.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Monday the Reuters news agency reported that in the second half of last year CEFC had approached shadow bankers for costly short-term loans and appeared willing to pay annual rates of as much as 36 percent for short-term funding – a sign it was in a cash crunch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Office of the President, where Ye Jianming is still officially registered as the president\u2019s advisor for China is tight-lipped. The president\u2019s spokesman said Mr. Zeman had received the Chinese ambassador to Prague to discuss the situation, but provided no output from the meeting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Radio Praha<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was meant to be one of the biggest Chinese investments in the Czech Republic. Now a deal giving the Chinese energy giant CEFC a 50 percent stake in the financial company J&T Finance Group looks highly uncertain as do CEFC\u2019s other activities in the country. The company is reported to be in financial straits … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[50,122,242,6,37,51],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nZeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was meant to be one of the biggest Chinese investments in the Czech Republic. Now a deal giving the Chinese energy giant CEFC a 50 percent stake in the financial company J&T Finance Group looks highly uncertain as do CEFC\u2019s other activities in the country. The company is reported to be in financial straits ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prague Business Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/praguebizjournal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt Atlas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@prague_business\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@prague_business\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Atlas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt Atlas\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8fdfbdb2594475c8162df8ee336662\"},\"headline\":\"Zeman’s Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC’s Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\"},\"wordCount\":571,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"CEFC\",\"China\",\"Czech Corruption\",\"Milo\u0161 Zeman\",\"Prague\",\"Ye Jianming\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\",\"name\":\"Zeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1\",\"width\":500,\"height\":340,\"caption\":\"Milos Zeman Ye Jianming\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zeman’s Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC’s Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/\",\"name\":\"Prague Business Journal\",\"description\":\"News and views from the Czech Republic\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Prague Business Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PBJ-logo-226x125.jpg?fit=361%2C120&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PBJ-logo-226x125.jpg?fit=361%2C120&ssl=1\",\"width\":361,\"height\":120,\"caption\":\"Prague Business Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/praguebizjournal\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/prague_business\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8fdfbdb2594475c8162df8ee336662\",\"name\":\"Matt Atlas\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal","og_description":"It was meant to be one of the biggest Chinese investments in the Czech Republic. Now a deal giving the Chinese energy giant CEFC a 50 percent stake in the financial company J&T Finance Group looks highly uncertain as do CEFC\u2019s other activities in the country. The company is reported to be in financial straits ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/","og_site_name":"Prague Business Journal","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/praguebizjournal","article_published_time":"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matt Atlas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@prague_business","twitter_site":"@prague_business","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matt Atlas","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/"},"author":{"name":"Matt Atlas","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8fdfbdb2594475c8162df8ee336662"},"headline":"Zeman’s Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC’s Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested","datePublished":"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/"},"wordCount":571,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","keywords":["CEFC","China","Czech Corruption","Milo\u0161 Zeman","Prague","Ye Jianming"],"articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/","url":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/","name":"Zeman's Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC's Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested - Prague Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","datePublished":"2018-03-14T18:29:22+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-04T18:39:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","width":500,"height":340,"caption":"Milos Zeman Ye Jianming"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/zemans-big-china-win-turns-sour-cefcs-finances-in-disarray-ceo-arrested\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zeman’s Big China Win Turns Sour: CEFC’s Finances In Disarray, CEO Arrested"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/","name":"Prague Business Journal","description":"News and views from the Czech Republic","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#organization","name":"Prague Business Journal","url":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PBJ-logo-226x125.jpg?fit=361%2C120&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PBJ-logo-226x125.jpg?fit=361%2C120&ssl=1","width":361,"height":120,"caption":"Prague Business Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/praguebizjournal","https:\/\/x.com\/prague_business"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8fdfbdb2594475c8162df8ee336662","name":"Matt Atlas"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ye-JIanming-Milos-Zeman.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praguebusinessjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}