China sentences Evergrande founder to life in prison

Life sentence for Evergrande founder as China flexes its muscles

China has sentenced Xu Jiayin, founder of Evergrande and once the country's richest man, to life in prison. The message to the rest of the country's tycoons is unmistakable: neither wealth nor political connections offer protection from the judicial apparatus. But the verdict, handed down in one of the largest accounting frauds in history, does not read the same everywhere.

The case that shook Chinese real estate

Evergrande, once the world's largest property developer, was saddled with enormous debt. The conviction of its founder turns the collapse into a warning: in China, power is also enforced. The accounting fraud he is charged with ranks among the most serious on record, although the exact figures have not been fully disclosed.

Exemplary justice or selective purge

Opinions are divided. Some see proof that Beijing will not tolerate anyone playing fast and loose with the books, while others argue that the downfall of such a high-profile tycoon responds to other logic. The theory of a political settling of scores is not far-fetched: Jiayin's empire is now at the disposal of whoever decides to take it for a yuan.

The Western mirror

The comparison with the West is inevitable. While in Spain debates over political corruption rarely end in such severe sentences, in China the file is closed quickly and harshly. But an exemplary case does not miccionan blind justice: analysts point out that China's financial system remains opaque and that several parallel networks coexist under the same roof.

The lingering question is whether this conviction will deter other property giants with cooked-up balance sheets, or whether it simply picks the next victim. The answer, like almost everything in China, depends on who is asking.