A Chinese financial reporter detained on suspicion of harming a business’ reputation confessed on state television today that he was fed untrue information about the company and filed unverified stories defaming the company in exchange for money.
State-run China Central Television aired the footage in which Chen Yongzhou, an employee of the Guangzhou-based New Express newspaper, said greed and a desire for fame led him to take bribes and run under his name prepared stories alleging financial misdeeds by China's second-largest heavy equipment maker, Zoomlion.
Mr Chen’s detention has caused an uproar among media professionals, who worry police are overstepping their legal jurisdiction in criminalising civil disputes.
Legal scholars also voiced concerns about state media airing the confession of a suspect before a court hears the case. Mr Chen has not been charged, as police are still investigating the case.
In the television footage, Mr Chen (27) was seen with his head shaved and handcuffed and wearing a green vest from the detention centre in the central-southern Chinese city of Changsha, where Zoomlion has its headquarters.
“I willingly admit the crime, and I repent my crime,” Mr Chen said. “As for those involved in the case — Zoomlion, the credibility of the entire news media, my family and the wounds they are suffering — I am willing to offer my sincere apologies.” He also apologised to Zoomlion shareholders.
The state broadcaster said Mr Chen ran more than 10 news articles between September 2012 and August 2013 with fabricated facts saying there had been losses of state assets, abnormal sales practices and false financial reporting by Zoomlion, which caused widespread criticism of the company and resulted in its stock price falling after one particularly damaging report.
Mr Chen said a middleman bribed him to run the stories and that he filed the stories without verifying them. The middleman was not named.
Mr Chen said he was given 500,000 yuan (€59,500) to report Zoomlion to regulatory agencies in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Following his detention, the New Express made rare front-page appeals two days in a row asking the police to release him.
The Hunan provincial government owns one-sixth of Zoomlion and is its largest shareholder. Zoomlion filed the police report against Chen in September .
PA