Due diligence has become a major service industry in China, where information is often hard to get. Doing background checks on potential new partners or employees has become a standard procedure.
The arrest of Shanghai-based Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng this summer showed the Chinese government had started to do some due diligence on these firms herself. Peter's company ChinaWhys was accused of conducting illegal business, and so there are a few questions to be asked.
What is the current state of due diligence investigations in China? Can you do research into companies, their managers and staff legally, and under what conditions? Is the Chinese government protecting her own affairs and businesses, or do they have a fair point when they go after non-licensed investigators? Is this part of a broader action against shell companies from
Hong Kong,
the Cayman Islands and other places?
“[The] Investigation found that the couple illegally trafficked a huge amount of personal information on Chinese citizens to seek profits via registering so-called research companies in Hong Kong and Shanghai since 2003,” the
Xinhua news agency reported.
From Taiwan is joining us Miguel De Vinci (aka
李洛傑) who is working in the industry, and claimed at a LinkedIn group you can do this work perfect in a legal way with Chinese partners.
The +China Weekly Hangout will be held on Thursday 26 September at 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10am EST (US/Canada). You can register for participation at our event page here.
You can leave questions and remarks here or at our event page. We will also test a new Question app developed by Google, allowing you to ask questions during the hangout, and vote on questions by others. You do need to watch the proceedings from our event page, and the video will be active about 30 minutes before the start.
China Weekly Hangout
The
+China Weekly Hangout discusses each week a China-related subject that is in the news. On September 12 we discussed China's new visa system. Ambiguity is the word Beijing-based lawyer
+Gary Chodorow uses most when talking about the new visas in China, officially in place since September 1. What to do with spouses, interns, people with F-visas and other visitors who are not allowed to work. Moderation by
+Fons Tuinstra of the
China Speakers Bureau.
