Real estate tycoon Wang Zhenhua accused of raping underage girl

Chinese billionaire Wáng Zhènhuá 王振华, the chairman of real estate enterprise Future Land, has been detained by Shanghai police on charges of child rape.

Per Xinmin Evening News (in Chinese), a Shanghai-based local newspaper, the assault occurred in a five-star hotel on June 29. The nine-year-old girl who fell victim to Wang is from Jiangsu Province and was brought to Shanghai by her mother’s friend Ms. Zhou 周. The next day, after the incident happened, the girl told her mother and local police was called in to look into the matter. Upon further investigation, Shanghai police discovered the 57-year-old man had sexual intercourse with the minor and caused damage on the child’s private parts.

According to a statement released on July 3 by the Putuo District police bureau, Wang was arrested on July 1 and Zhou turned herself into police on July 2. The case is still under investigation.

In the wake of the news, Future Land Development Holdings Ltd. dropped 24 percent in Hong Kong, wiping out roughly $2 billion in value within minutes.

News articles about the case has been largely censored on the Chinese internet. An anonymous screenshot of a WeChat group conversations shows that the propaganda department in Shanghai has issued orders that require all media publications to stop reporting on the news.