Song Lin, Chairman and Party Secretary of China Resources Group, who had been entangled in real-name reports since last year, ultimately failed to prove his innocence.

　　Yesterday, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision announced that Song Lin is suspected of serious disciplinary and legal violations and is currently under organizational investigation. China Resources Group subsequently issued a notice on its official website stating that the company will fully cooperate with the investigation and strive to ensure normal operation of all businesses.

　　An informed source involved in the reporting told the reporter that Song Lin's investigation was expected, and that the middleman in the acquisition of Jinye Group's asset package is the famous Shanxi coal boss who "gave 70 million yuan for his daughter's wedding," Xing Libin, Chairman of the Board of Shanxi Liansheng Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Liansheng").

　　Relevant persons familiar with the case also disclosed to the reporter that last year relevant departments had conducted a special investigation and audit of China Resources. The matter was once intended to be made public recently. However, after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection intervened this year, evidence of Song Lin's suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations was obtained.

　　China Resources Power Asset Acquisition Suspense

　　Wang Wenzhi, chief reporter of Xinhua News Agency, publicly released a real-name report letter to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on April 15. Wang Wenzhi stated that on July 17 last year, he had reported in real name that Song Lin, a vice-ministerial-level official, had serious dereliction of duty in the process of China Resources' acquisition of Shanxi Jinye assets, causing huge losses of state-owned assets. Now he still reports in real name that Song Lin keeps a mistress and is suspected of corruption.

　　In March last year, the reporter exclusively reported that China Resources Power, a subsidiary of China Resources Group, acquired a flawed asset package of Shanxi Jinye Group in 2010 for nearly 10 billion yuan. China Resources Power was established in August 2001 and is a listed company controlled by China Resources Group.

　　In February 2010, China Resources Power, through its subsidiary Shanxi China Resources Liansheng Energy Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Resources Liansheng"), signed the "Main Agreement on Enterprise Restructuring and Cooperation" with Jinye Group, agreeing that China Resources Liansheng, CITIC Trust, and Jinye Group would contribute capital in proportions of 49%, 31%, and 20% to establish Taiyuan China Resources Coal Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Taiyuan China Resources"); and using Taiyuan China Resources as the restructuring platform to acquire Jinye Group's asset package.

　　On May 31 of the same year, Taiyuan China Resources signed an asset transfer agreement with Jinye Group, and the overall asset equity was priced at 11.7 billion yuan and purchased by China Resources Power. The asset package consists of 10 entities under Jinye Group.

　　However, among the "most valuable" three coal mines in Jinye Group's asset package—Yuanxiang, Zhongshe, and Hongyatou—when China Resources Power acquired them in 2010, only Yuanxiang Coal Mine had a mining license, but it had expired. Although the license was later obtained, it still could not operate normally for various reasons.

　　For the other two coal mines, China Resources Power did not announce until September 3 last year that it had obtained the exploration licenses for Zhongshe and Hongyatou coal mines in Gujiao City, Shanxi Province, issued by the Shanxi Provincial Department of Land and Resources, but the mining rights certificates for the two coal mines have not yet been obtained.

　　In March 2013, the reporter visited Gujiao City, Shanxi Province, and found that most of the assets of Jinye Group acquired by China Resources Power were in a state of "abandonment." In addition to the problems of the above three coal mines, the two coking plants have also been in a state of shutdown or semi-shutdown.

　　On July 17 last year, Wang Wenzhi reported in real name on his Weibo that Song Lin and other China Resources executives were suspected of interest transfer in the 10-billion-yuan merger and acquisition of Shanxi Jinye assets, causing billions of yuan in state-owned assets to be lost.

　　The incident stirred the entire market. In fact, on June 9 last year, someone had already reported in real name under a personal name that Song Lin deliberately relaxed in the merger and acquisition, causing billions of yuan in state-owned assets to be lost, and that Song Lin and other executives involved in the merger were suspected of receiving huge improper benefits.

　　Xing Libin Looms

　　In China Resources Power's acquisition of Jinye Group, China Resources Liansheng, which holds 49% equity of Taiyuan China Resources, naturally played a role that cannot be ignored. Tracing the participants behind it, the figure of another Shanxi coal tycoon, Xing Libin, immediately appeared.

　　China Resources Liansheng was jointly established by China Resources Power and Liansheng on June 11, 2009, with China Resources Power accounting for 66%.

　　In fact, from the path of China Resources Power's entry into Shanxi's coal industry, Xing Libin's figure is also frequently seen. At the end of April 2010, China Resources Power also jointly established Shanxi China Resources Coal Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanxi China Resources") with China Resources Liansheng, with a registered capital of 800 million yuan, now under China Resources Coal Holdings Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Resources Power.

　　"This is the general structure of China Resources Power's entry into the Shanxi coal market. China Resources Power's total investment scale is around 20 billion yuan. If calculated according to the proportion of invested funds in the equity structure, China Resources has paid a greater price in the Shanxi coal market," said the informed source.

　　As one of China Resources Power's main partners in Shanxi, Liansheng has also fallen into a huge financial crisis in the past two years. Liansheng, with total debt exceeding 30 billion yuan, filed for restructuring with Liulin County Court on November 29, 2013.

　　On March 14, this newspaper exclusively reported that Xing Libin, who "gave 70 million yuan for his daughter's wedding" in 2012, was taken away by police from Taiyuan Wusu Airport on the morning of the 12th. At that time, Xing Libin was about to take a flight from Taiyuan to Shenzhen and then transfer to Hong Kong.

　　The informed source said that China Resources Power's acquisition of Jinye Group's asset package was "bridged" by Xing Libin.

　　Song Lin's China Resources Career

　　From the perspective of corporate management, China Resources Group under Song Lin's governance is growing stronger.

　　As of the end of 2013, China Resources Group's total assets were HK$1,133.7 billion, with revenue of HK$500.2 billion. The group's core businesses include consumer goods, power, real estate, pharmaceuticals, cement, gas, and finance.

　　In the same year as the acquisition of Jinye Group, on May 31, 2010, Song Lin wrote in the "Chairman's Column" on China Resources Group's official website: The group has designated 2010 as China Resources' "Strategic Year."

　　After this year's Two Sessions, Song Lin published another article "Reform Sets Off Again," stating that "as a central enterprise, China Resources shoulders the historical responsibility and strategic mission of being the vanguard of state-owned enterprise reform. How we view and understand reform is related to China Resources' century-old foundation."

　　Looking back at Song Lin's career, compared with his predecessor Ning Gaoning's "dominance," Song Lin's name is not so loud to the outside world. A central enterprise leader who has met him also evaluated him as relatively low-key and pragmatic, and moderate in doing things.

　　Such a character can be seen in Song Lin's resume of starting from the grassroots: after graduating from Tongji University with a major in engineering mechanics, he joined China Resources, starting from carrying a surveying instrument to measure oil depots, and successively served as manager, senior manager, assistant general manager, and deputy general manager of Hong Kong China Resources Petrochemical; director of China Resources Group Co., Ltd., general manager of the Enterprise Development Department, and chairman of China Resources Investment and Development Co., Ltd.

　　After that, he took the helm of 4 of the 6 listed companies under China Resources in Hong Kong, and from 2004 succeeded Ning Gaoning as general manager of China Resources Group. From May 2008, he served as chairman of China Resources Group, concurrently chairman of China Resources Power Holdings Co., Ltd. and China Resources Microelectronics Limited.

　　Song Lin, who wears glasses and has an elegant temperament, was also appreciated by former China Resources Group Chairman and former Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Chen Xinhua. Within the group, Chen Xinhua evaluated him as follows: "He is quick-thinking, hardworking, and passionate about his work. His learning ability and professional knowledge level have left a good impression on me."

　　However, Song Lin, who appears mild-mannered, also has a side of turning the tide. For example, shortly after succeeding Ning Gaoning as general manager of China Resources Group, he once drove alone from Hong Kong along the Xijiang River to Guangxi, just to understand all aspects of the cement business and find a way out for China Resources Cement, which was in trouble at the time.

　　In the following years, the changes in China Resources Cement also stunned the Hong Kong capital market and even were selected as a Harvard business case: in 2006, it was privatized and delisted for more than HK$400 million; after 3 years of transformation, it was relisted in 2009 and raised more than HK$6 billion.

　　Currently, in China Resources Group's business portfolio, there are both resource-control industries such as power, cement, and gas, and terminal-consumption-driven industries such as pharmaceuticals, finance, and real estate. Such an industrial combination can also be annotated with the "smile curve" proposed by Song Lin. He believes that China Resources Group will mainly move toward these two aspects in the future, minimizing intermediate industrial product processing businesses.