The police arrested the two billionaire brothers – Paul Hsiao-Ming Lee and Tony Hsiao-Hua Lee – at the end of last year. The two founded the Semcorp Advanced Materials group.
According to the suspicion, the brothers transferred $1.4 billion, roughly 520 billion Swiss francs at the current exchange rate, from the Semcorp group.
The assets of the brothers and their families, who want to secretly transfer the capital of their private company abroad, are estimated at more than $10 billion (3,700 billion forints). This makes them the richest in Junan Province. According to press reports, the value of Semcorp shares fell sharply on the Chinese stock exchange.
Paul Hsiao-Ming Lee is an American citizen, while Tony Hsiao-Hua Lee is Chinese. Brother and sister graduated from the University of Massachusetts and started their careers in the United States. In 2010, they decided to start doing business related to electric vehicles.
They had such success with Semcorp, that in just ten years they had become the first to produce separator films for use in lithium-ion batteries.
Samsung, which has also built a factory in Debrecen, has become the number one supplier for the Shanghai-based company CATLas well as at LG and Panasonic battery factories.
the times times According to his information, at the end of 2022, many other businessmen besides Lié intended to make their assets available for guidance, because they wanted to leave China for political or economic reasons.
Foreign Ministry: There is no interruption in construction in Debrecen
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded to the news of the owners of Semcorp by saying that according to the information they received from the company, there are no interruptions in construction in Debrecen.
The Hungarian government has provided HUF 13 billion in non-refundable support for the construction of the Chinese company’s factory in Debrecen.
the 24 h According to his information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade can already study the effects of the measures being taken in China.
Hungarian government Three years ago has agreed with Semcorp Advanced Materials Group, according to which the latter will build its first European plant in Debrecen, in the Southern Economic Zone, which will be able to produce ten percent of the world’s total needs for separator films. In 2021, at the groundbreaking ceremony in Debrecen, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Sjärto said that investment is another chapter in the success story of Hungarian-Chinese economic cooperation.
The factory will start operating on a huge area of 19 hectares. A factory of 100,000 square meters will be set up in this 19-hectare area,
Where, for the first time outside of China, Semcorp will manufacture the separator films required for electric vehicle batteries in Hungary
said Peter Szijjártó in 2020.
The local civic forum recommends that the battery factory in Debrecen be suspended
Also the index mentioned That the Civil Fórum Debrecen Egyesület recommends the suspension of the investment of the Chinese battery factory to be built in the southern industrial zone of Debrecen. Gondola Ssolt Zord, head of the organization and representative of the local government, said that the surveys so far and the general mood in the city indicate that the majority of residents are against the implementation of the plant, which is considered dangerous.
Gondola said 4,600 people have been interviewed so far, 72 percent of whom do not want the battery factory, three-quarters of those who participated in a local online survey refused to build, and in the public forum organized by the municipality on Monday, more than eight hundred people refused to invest with a loud opinion statement.
Laszlo Papp, Mayor of Debrecen, disaster prevention, environmental protection, water and security experts present at the forum on Monday evening explained: The planned investment complies with the most stringent official regulations in all respects, “CATL’s investment in Debrecen complies with does not represent an individual or social risk” . Hajdu Bihar District Government Office will also hold a public hearing on the matter on January 20 as part of the environmental use permit procedure for the future plant.
(Cover photo: Debrecen Industrial Park. Photo: Tibor Olah/MTI)
