Prague, March 19 (CTK) – China Energy Company Limited (CEFC) board chairman Ye Jianming, an adviser of President Milos Zeman, is being investigated in China, Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek told journalists today.
Representatives of Shanghai confirmed this to Czech Presidential Office head Vratislav Mynar.
The CEFC representatives said Ye would leave his post. Mynar and his Presidential Office team learnt this during their visit to China last week, Ovcacek said.
The investigation is not being conducted against the legal entity CEFC China, he added.
“All the parties involved have agreed on the support for the projects of Czech-Chinese cooperation and of CEFC Europe projects with the framework of the One Belt One Road in the Czech Republic,” uvedl Ovcacek.
The representatives of the Presidential Office also met the board of the CEFC China. It told them that Ye would leave the shareholding structure and the board itself.
“CEFC still considers the development of its projects in the Czech Republic one of its priorities,” Ovcacek said.
Ye Jianming was reportedly arrested in China in February. Neither CEFC nor the Chinese authorities have confirmed his detention officially. He is allegedly investigated on suspicion of a financial crime.
CEFC has chosen the Czech Republic as a centre for its European activities. It has also bought stakes in several Czech companies.
In 2015, Zeman appointed Ye Jianming as his special economic adviser. He still remains in this post and Zeman said he would take further steps after receiving official information from China only.
The CEFC group is running business mainly in the sectors of energy, finance and industry.
According to its own data, this is the biggest private company in Shanghai and the seventh biggest in China.