Jiangsu Sailin made a big defeat

  "China News Weekly" reporter / Su Jie De Xu Dawei

  Issued in the 959th issue of China News Weekly on January 10, 2020.8.

  It has been more than a hundred days since the "scam" of Serin Motors was broken.

  On April 27 this year, Qiao Yudong, former senior legal manager of Jiangsu Sailin Automobile, reported the company's chairman, CEO and legal representative Wang Xiaolin in real name, and questioned Wang Xiaolin's suspected false technology investment and embezzlement of huge amounts of state-owned assets.

  Qiao Yudong’s allegations describe an “empty glove white wolf international scam”: Wang Xiaolin’s four foreign-owned shareholders of Sai Lin Company actually controlled them, using false technology to invest 6.6 billion yuan, defrauding Sai Lin’s shares and gaining control of the company. right. The sole state-owned shareholder Nantong Jiahe of Sai Lin Company "has provided a total of 6.6 billion yuan in capital, and Wang Xiaolin did not contribute a penny to the performance of the duties of state-owned asset investors in Sai Lin Company because of Wang Xiaolin's great obstruction. Wang Xiaolin did not even allow state-owned shareholder Nantong Jiahe to appoint or remove an executive from Jiangsu Sailin."

  The war of words between the two sides escalated. But what Wang Xiaolin does not deny is that Serin Auto has already spent nearly 6 billion yuan: 3 billion yuan to build a car factory; 1.4 billion yuan for personnel expenses and marketing expenses; the remaining money is used to build cars. However, in Wang Xiaolin's view, the money is far from enough. Wang Xiaolin, who is far away in the United States, told China News Weekly, “Among the new forces in China's car-making, we are the most economical because I have experience in financial control. There is no tens of billions of investment that is not called car-making."

  According to public data, the general public budget revenue of Rugao in 2019 is 7 billion yuan, and according to Qiao Yudong, the Rugao government has already spent 6.6 billion yuan in real money for the Sai Lin project alone.

  It took four years to build the car, but within a hundred days, Serin Automobile "suddenly died." The Serin Auto account has been frozen, and the two factories and Shanghai branch of Serin Auto in Rugao have been seized by the Nantong Intermediate Court. Executives and employees have resigned, and Serin collapsed. In the United States, Wang Xiaolin and the Rugao government confronted each other and blamed each other for the company's suspension.

  "I don't have any responsibility!" Wang Xiaolin, who is now far away in the United States, refuses to return to China and is called "Jia Yueting of the car industry." He said, "Jiangsu Sailin is gone, and the rest is to hold accountable for this matter."

Technology investment "Rashomon"

  A piece of white A4 paper is attached to the closed glass door, and the red handprints on the paper are densely packed. This is a notice from all employees of Jiangsu Sailin Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jiangsu Sailin) ​​to the shareholders and management of the company : "How does the company operate in the future and how to arrange employees? When will Jiangsu Sailin and its management give a formal plan."

  In the past four years, this star automobile company, located in Rugao, a county-level city in Jiangsu, spent an average of 1.5 billion yuan a year to build cars, but finally achieved mass production only a miniature electric car called "Laotou Le". Until this year, Qiao Yudong, the senior legal manager of Jiangsu Sailin, reported the company's chairman Wang Xiaolin in real name for providing false certification documents and embezzling huge amounts of funds from the company, causing public opinion.

  According to Qiao Yudong, Wang Xiaolin's investment in Jiangsu Sailin at a cost of US$500,000 and US$20 million for technology costing US$5.5 billion and 1.1 billion, respectively, resulted in the loss of billions of state-owned assets. Among them, 500,000 US dollars refers to the authorization obtained from the United States Sailin, mainly related to luxury cars and SUVs, while the 20 million US dollars technology refers to the intellectual property rights of micro electric vehicles.

  According to data from Tianyan Check, Nantong Jiahe is a wholly-owned company controlled by the Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee and holds 33.4% of Jiangsu Sailin. The remaining equity belongs to foreign shareholders. Among them, Zifu Holding Group, registered in the British Virgin Islands, holds 55.5% of the shares through Rugao Salin Hybrid Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd. and other three companies. Each company has an SUV intellectual property; registered in The U.S.-based Vermont Industry Group holds 11% of the shares through Rugao Jitai Electric Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd., which owns the intellectual property rights of micro electric vehicles.

  Qiao Yudong questioned that the actual value of technology investment is far lower than the estimated value. He cited, for example, that the core technology of micro-electric vehicles is the result of the efforts of all engineers from the Shanghai Research Institute of Sailin. “The technology that only has mass production capacity at the end of 2018 will be regarded as the technology that existed on the evaluation base date on December 31, 2015. The investment of 1.1 billion yuan is obviously against the basic principle of good faith."

  In response, Wang Xiaolin said in an interview with "China News Weekly": "Our intellectual property price has been evaluated by three evaluation companies." Two days after Qiao Yudong's open letter was issued, on April 29, Jiangsu Sailin's sole state-owned shareholder Nantong Jiahe Technology Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nantong Jiahe) issued a statement in support of Wang Xiaolin: The technical investment involved in the establishment of Sailin Automobile has been investigated and verified by relevant experts and evaluated by authoritative persons, and has been approved by an independent, qualified asset evaluation agency Assessed, its capital contribution procedure complies with national laws and regulations and the regulations of Sailin Motor Company’s articles of association.

  However, this statement did not properly explain the doubts, and instead caused the "technical investment evaluation" to fall into Rashomon.

  According to the materials provided by Qiao Yudong to China News Weekly, the asset appraisal report was made by a third party entrusted by a foreign-funded company actually controlled by Wang Xiaolin, rather than by the government of the investor Rugao. The three companies are Shanghai Zhonghua Assets Appraisal Co., Ltd., Bandung (Shanghai) Assets Appraisal Co., Ltd. and Zhonghuan Songde (Beijing) Assets Appraisal Co., Ltd.

  Prior to this, Wang Xiaolin stated on many occasions that Cerin’s technology includes luxury cars, SUVs and a mini-electric car. However, the evaluation reports issued by the three companies show that the main body of the report is less than 20 pages, and there are only 4 models and no luxury cars. Among them, the intellectual property value of the micro-electric vehicle named "Jitai·Mimai·MyCar" is 1.107 billion yuan, and the intellectual property values ​​of the remaining three models marked as Sailin brand SUV are 1.88 billion yuan and 1.89 billion yuan respectively. Yuan and 1.77 billion yuan, with a total valuation of 6.65 billion yuan. Moreover, the schedules of the evaluation teams of the two evaluation companies were highly consistent, and the on-site investigations were all on the same day, and both lasted for a week. Such a "coincidence" is hard to not be suspicious.

  It is worth noting that these evaluation reports pointed out: the estimated amount, the data is based on the forecast data provided by the client. In other words, the client himself estimates how much economic benefits will be produced in the next few years. Moreover, the report also emphasizes that this assessment does not consider the impact of domestic production of parts and components, domestic regulations, locally manufactured prototypes, domestic collisions and emission calibrations on the assessed value after the assessment benchmark date.

  As the incident unfolded, Bandung Appraisal issued a statement denying that it had issued the aforementioned asset appraisal report. On May 20, Shanghai Bandung issued a statement stating that it has never issued the "Rugao Jitai Investment Project Appraisal Report on Intangible Assets Held by Rugao Jitai", and has never reviewed "Rugao Jitai's estimated intangible assets held by it." "Issued any asset appraisal report, and has never been entrusted by the four non-state shareholders of Sai Lin Motors to issue any asset appraisal report on the "project to be invested with intangible assets".

  In response, Wang Xiaolin said: “At the end of 2015, Sailin Auto signed a letter of commitment with Bandung and hired them to do an evaluation in January 2016. This evaluation is the basis for negotiations with Rugao. In fact, This assessment has nothing to do with Rugao. It is the basis for the valuation of the US negotiations with Rugao." According to him, after the establishment of Sailin, the companies that were actually evaluated and evaluated were Shanghai Zhonghua Evaluation Company and Beijing Zhonghuan Songde Evaluation. The company later hired an appraisal company to conduct capital verification. "The content of the appraisal reports of the three companies are similar."

  Some people in the industry are very puzzled by Rugao's full acceptance of Wang Xiaolin's unilateral asset assessment. Luo Zhiyu, director of the domestic and foreign investment, financing and mergers and acquisitions department of Jingshi Law Firm, told China News Weekly that the investor Nantong Jiahe could actually take action very early, and it should reassess itself or apply for judicial assessment of assets appraisal without the approval of major shareholders. . As a cash contributor, the non-cash contributor’s capital contribution shall be evaluated or appraised, and the equity evaluation price shall be reviewed to reduce risks.

  In addition to the so-called "assessment by three evaluation companies," Wang Xiaolin emphasized to China News Weekly that the American Cylin provides mature models, the technology is brought back from the United States, and the localization is carried out in China, and the domestic team will do it. There is no problem of false technology funding.

  However, Qiao Yudong questioned in the report letter that the technology of Sailin's car is not from the United States, but is being developed by the company's technicians. Qiao Yudong’s statement was supported by Jiangsu Sailin technicians. Tian Ming (a pseudonym), the core R&D staff member of the new energy vehicle department of the Sailin SUV project, told China News Weekly that if the US Sailin provides mature models, it means These models have reached the data freezing stage and can be mass-produced. However, judging from the development progress of Jiangsu Sailin’s most important SUV model, the so-called American model is not mature. "When we took over, we updated the vehicle platform by 80 to 90%. The current engineering prototype The data used is mainly done by our team." Tian Ming introduced that their team took over in June 2018, and the project's R&D director has continuously replaced 3 people in more than a year.

  In the view of Zhong Shi, an automobile analyst, the source of Cerin car technology is more like a hodgepodge, "The American technology has a little bit, the company has a little bit of research and development, and the design company should do a little bit." He said that this is different from the production model of domestic car companies. It takes ten years for self-owned brand car companies to move from imitating to own brand; while for joint venture car companies, others bring all the technologies, models, etc., to produce domestically, the joint venture is equivalent to a foundry; a new force in car manufacturing It refers to pure electric vehicle manufacturers. Master Zhong said that none of the three of Sai Lin was, and it seemed a bit "weird".

  "The so-called American Sailin's automotive technology is all fictitious." Wang Jun (pseudonym), a core executive who has resigned from Jiangsu Sailin, worked in a major domestic automobile brand management position for many years, and was later regarded by the Rugao City Government and Wang Xiaolin. A senior expert in the industry was invited to Sailin to take up the main business management position. He bluntly said: "I have been making cars for so many years, what car hasn't been seen? But Sailin's system has never had drawings, specifications, data, verification reports, design tasks, parts design specifications, prototype cars, nothing. ."

  Regarding Sai Lin’s technical doubts, Wang Xiaolin kicked the ball to Steve Sai Lin, the founder of American Sai Lin Motors. The latter not only possesses vehicle technology, but is also the actual controller of Jiangsu Sailin's foreign shareholders.

  In an interview with The Beijing News, Steve Sailin thought that he was very injured. His three models and platforms that he invested in Jiangsu Sailin were worth more than one billion U.S. dollars. This did not include brand value and other specialties. With technology, "China's appraisal company only made a price of 800 million US dollars (5.5 billion yuan), which is a very cost-effective price for Rugao. Rugao got the best deal in automobile history."

  He blamed Rugao for his current actions to take advantage of his achievements: "The problem is that after Rugao acquired my model and technology, even the percentage of equity we got on paper, Rugao regretted it. Finally, they I want to get everything I have without paying anything, which is incredible."

  "Jiangsu Sailin's joint venture model is that the local government pays money, the United States provides technology, and the two parties jointly find a third-party financing." Wang Xiaolin believes that the United States is the technology investor from the beginning, with a technology investment value of 6.652 billion yuan, occupying the joint venture company. 66.52% shares. In the joint venture agreement, the US has no cash contribution obligation.

  Wang Xiaolin told China News Weekly that he was not a technology investor, but a "professional manager". He further explained that "I don't know whether Cylin has the technology to design cars. The only relationship with me is that the company is listed. I have a 10% success fee (equity)."

Burning money to build cars, or embezzling state-owned assets?

  How much did Sailin spend to build a car?

  Qiao Yudong’s letter stated that Jiangsu Sailin received 6.6 billion yuan from Nantong Jiahe, including 3.4 billion yuan in currency contributions, 1.2 billion yuan in production equipment mortgages, and 2 billion yuan in equity pledge deposits. According to Tianyan Check data, both mortgages and pledge loans occurred in the second half of 2019, and the total equity pledge deposit amounted to 2 billion yuan, which was consistent with the amount mentioned by Qiao Yudong, while the production equipment mortgage did not indicate the amount.

  What Wang Xiaolin said is that the Rugao local government's state-owned assets platform invested 3.3 billion yuan in equity, plus 2.5 billion in liquidity support, for a total of 5.8 billion yuan. Hunan Baiyun Investment Development Co., Ltd. has also invested 210 million yuan, but has not yet completed the equity change. "Of the 5.8 billion yuan, nearly 200 million yuan was given to Nantong Jiahe for interest, and the entire used funds were between 5.6 billion and 5.7 billion."

  Where did the money go? Wang Xiaolin said that it cost 3 billion yuan to build an automobile factory; about 1.4 billion yuan was spent on personnel expenses and marketing expenses; the remaining money was used to build cars, "only about 1.2 billion yuan is left, and the 1.2 billion yuan We need to open molds, make parts matching, etc."

  In Wang Xiaolin's view, the money is far from enough. He hopes to obtain more funds through equity and bond financing. Many investors plan to invest in Sailin, but the Rugao government disagrees. "After Baiyun invested 210 million, we have urged many times to change the equity. However, according to the company's articles of association, the change of equity must have the approval of state-owned assets, but state-owned assets will not do it." Wang Xiaolin said, now I want to understand, let alone 210 million. , As long as 100 million come in, the state-owned assets have no veto power.

  In 2017, Jiangsu Sailin went to various places to raise funds, and Wang Rongjin, a partner of Jinbang Capital, an investment institution, also contacted: "I was curious at the time. I hadn't heard of this company, so I just talked to them. Their style is very high. I opened my mouth to benchmark Tesla, but the product was not made, so I built a few elderly cars and put them there. I don’t think it is reliable."

  Wang Rongjin told China News Weekly that at a meeting in Shanghai, he met personnel from the investment promotion department of the Rugao government. “He told me that many people in Rugao had very big opinions about the factory, and even thought it was not worth 1 billion yuan. "

  This is also the general question of Sai Lin: Why burned 6.6 billion investment to create a low-speed micro electric car?

  In the early publicity, the SALEEN brand entered China as an American supercar pioneer. Sailin's landing in Rugao, Jiangsu is described as: in the future, Sailin will create a world-class "new species" of supercars in China, namely supercars, supercars SUVs and supercars that everyone can own. The main products include: "A high-performance supercar that everyone can have" Sailin S1, supercar SUV Sailin·Mike, city electric sports car Maimai and Sailin formula racing car.

  Wang Xiaolin once said that according to Sailin's strategic plan, the supercar S1 was first launched, and then the SUV model was mass-produced and launched. Then, in order to meet the double points, it will launch the city electric vehicle Maimai, and then it will make pure electric SUV and hybrid SUV.

  After the exciting slogan, Jiangsu Sailin really achieved mass production and launched it to the market, but it was the A00-class "Maimai" with a battery life of more than 300 kilometers, which was criticized by the market as "making a supercar and launching an old man."

  Wang Xiaolin did not deny that the sales of "Maimai" were very poor. "Last year on Double Eleven, we made a Tmall store, which operated for 30 days and sold 31 cars, almost one car a day. We signed in May this year. For a sales order of 15,000 vehicles, we need to deliver 300 vehicles in June as planned, but in the end all assets including vehicles were frozen and could not be delivered."

  In other words, more than 6 billion yuan has been spent on building cars for more than four years. The so-called mass-produced Maimai has only sold 31 cars so far.

  "It's too fast to spend money." After Wang Jun, a former executive, came to Sailin, he found that the company was spending money like water, but the money was not used on the blade.

  The outside world was deeply impressed by Sai Lin's massive marketing expenditures. On July 20, 2019, Jiangsu Sailin held a star-studded press conference at the Beijing Bird's Nest Stadium. This high-profile press conference aroused public opinion on Sailin. At that time, it was reported that the press conference cost hundreds of millions of yuan. Wang Xiaolin responded that he did not spend so much, and actually used more than 60 million yuan.

  Compared with spending money on marketing, the company's R&D funds are not abundant. Tian Ming said that SUV development generally involves three rounds. In order to save costs, only two and a half rounds are done. When Tian Ming's team took over, Sailin SUV had already produced a prototype. He still remembered the first time he saw that car: "The shape is very similar to the old Buick in the 1980s." He believes that this Models of old styles actually cost huge costs. It was too hasty to build this kind of car.

  In Wang Jun's view, Sailin is not serious about building cars, and its market positioning is not clear. "In the beginning, the SUV was positioned to benchmark against Volkswagen Tiguan, and later Wang Xiaolin was to benchmark against Porsche's McCann, which means that all of our performance parameters have to be reworked." Tian Ming also believes: "From the benchmark price of about 200,000 yuan From the Volkswagen to 600,000 McCann, Sailin’s car positioning has repeatedly changed, which has increased a lot of costs."

  In Qiao Yudong’s report, another important allegation is that Wang Xiaolin possessed state-owned assets through various means. For example, Jiangsu Sailin paid to Shanghai Hongming Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hongming Culture), which is 100% controlled by Wang Xiaolin’s wife, Cong Chao, with a total of more than 100 million yuan; Jiangsu Sailin and Wang Xiaolin’s classmate Li Zhaohui Shenzhen Jinhongyuan Investment Management Co., Ltd. may have improper capital transactions.

  Wang Xiaolin responded to the media: Jiangsu Sailin only paid more than 10 million yuan to the Hongming Cultural Account, of which about 10 million yuan was used for the documentary "America on Wheels", and there were several million yuan in case of emergency. The main participant in this documentary is Wang Xiaolin.

  Wang Xiaolin explained that he used his wife’s name to register because he no longer had a Chinese ID card and was unable to register. The bank accounts of Hongming Culture were all in the hands of Jiangsu Sailin. In addition, he and Li Zhaohui are just alumni, not classmates. "At Sailin, I have no income except salary income. The company's financial system is very strict and I have never managed any money."

  The only time that Rugao’s official government spoke up on this matter was on July 2, when the Management Committee of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone issued a notice stating: “It was discovered that Jiangsu Sailin Chairman and CEO Wang Xiaolin and others were suspected of providing false certification documents. , Taking advantage of his position to embezzle huge amounts of funds from Jiangsu Sailin and other issues and important clues. Nantong Jiahe reported to the public security organs in a timely manner. The public security organs have accepted and are investigating the suspected crimes of relevant personnel in accordance with the law."

  Wang Xiaolin denied it entirely. "Rugao said that I misappropriated huge amounts of funds. Jiangsu Sailin’s entire financial management system is based on a modern corporate financial management system. Not only does it have finances and audits, Rugao State-owned assets also assigns an accountant. In fact, Jiangsu Sailin’s capital expenditure is in the chief financial officer. After the official and I sign, the consent of Rugao State-owned Assets is still needed."

  He told China News Weekly that before 2017, the official seal of Jiangsu Sailin was managed by the Rugao government, and then the official seal was given to Sailin, and Sailin began to manage the money on its own. In 2018, Rugao will send people to attend company meetings to record the progress and report to Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone. Wang Xiaolin has always emphasized that state-owned shareholders have a veto power on the board of directors for the ability of state-owned shareholders to control major affairs and finances of Jiangsu Sailin. "State-owned shareholders also sent an accountant to sit on our third floor. After the company's chief financial officer signed the letter and the chairman of the board signed the letter, the accountant would not sign and the money would not be paid out." Wang Xiaolin said.

  "Said I misappropriated public funds. Which account did the money from these public funds reach? I have to check level by level to find out whether the account is related to me. If not, it is a false accusation." Wang Xiaolin believes that Qiao Yudong is reporting. It is a serious misleading to think that oneself has defrauded 6.6 billion yuan, "6.6 billion is the value of equity, and we have not taken a penny away... The current company situation, the value of this equity is zero."

  However, former executive Wang Jun told China News Weekly that Jiangsu Sailin is actually Wang Xiaolin alone in charge, and financial management is rather chaotic. He remembered that in two months, employees' wages increased sharply, and the usual total wages of three to four million yuan suddenly increased to eight or nine million yuan.

  The company did not increase its employees, nor was it arrears of wages, nor was it reissued bonuses. The total wages increased significantly. Wang Jun felt that something was not right. He later learned: "Wang Xiaolin often pays himself and his wife. A few million were sent out. Not only that, the company also pays eight or nine million yuan to the U.S. every month. Although I am in charge of finances, I still don’t know who the money was sent to."

  Wang Jun believes that there are problems in the company's financial management and investment, which may involve the loss of state-owned assets, which is a serious problem. After working for less than a year, he refused the retention of the Rugao government and resigned from Jiangsu Sailin.

Short honeymoon

  Now Wang Xiaolin, who is caught in the whirlpool of car building, was still a talent that Rugao tried hard to attract a few years ago.

  He told China News Weekly that Sichuan, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places had invited him to visit. Among the local governments competing for Sailin, Rugao, a county-level city in Jiangsu, is the most proactive and provides the most favorable conditions.

  Rugao is located in the north wing of the Yangtze River Delta, facing the Yangtze River in the south, and has 3 streets and 11 towns under the jurisdiction of Rucheng, Chengbei and Chengnan. The GDP in 2019 was 121.5 billion yuan, ranking among the top 100 counties in the country.

  In 2015, the new energy automobile industry was at the forefront of the policy. In order to promote the landing of Sailin, the Rugao government spared no effort. Wang Xiaolin was very impressed once when he was inspecting in Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. He received a call from Ma Jinhua, member of the Standing Committee of the Rugao Municipal Party Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone at that time: "You have all come to Jiangsu, no matter what How to come to our place to take a look. Jintan is not far from my side, I will pick you up.” At 5 or 6 the next morning, Ma Jinhua came to pick up Wang Xiaolin from Rugao. The journey takes more than two hours. This moved Wang Xiaolin deeply.

  Ma Jinhua is one of the main promoters of Rugao's new energy automobile industry. "Ma Jinhua said in the car that if a project like yours is landed, it will definitely be a provincial key project. It feels good to talk in the car, but when I went to the development zone, it was really not good. At that time, there was only land in the development zone. Ark, Kangdi, several companies, there are no serious car factories." Wang Xiaolin recalled, the development zone at that time looked a little desolate.

  In December 2015, the mayor of Rugao organized automobile experts to visit the United States. After returning to China, experts invited by Rugao decided to introduce this project. According to the information provided by Qiao Yudong, one of the experts named Lei Yucheng said: “Entrusted by Rugao City, Jiangsu Province, Tongjie Technology entrusted me as a representative of the expert group to conduct a battle against Cylin from December 18 to 22, 2015. International Automobile Company conducts inspection...The company is a relatively excellent automobile technology and high-end brand manufacturing company."

  In fact, Lei Yucheng and Wang Xiaolin have known each other a long time ago, and they have also worked together to build a car. In 2009, Wang Xiaolin and Lei Yucheng held a conference on the release of super platform and cooperation intentions in Shanghai. During the fair, Wang Xiaolin announced his plan to build a car. It plans to start production of 150,000 vehicles in 2011 and reach 1 million vehicles by 2015. However, Wang Xiaolin's plan to surpass Honda's car building was thunderous and rainy, and soon there was no follow.

  Although there is no successful automobile investment experience, this does not prevent Rugao from favoring Sailin. In order to strive for the landing of Sailin, the local government put forward generous conditions. According to Wang Xiaolin, Rugao promised to provide automobile production qualifications; second, 3 billion yuan in equity investment, 4 billion yuan in three-year liquidity guarantee, and 3% discount; third, land supporting facilities.

  Jiangsu Sailin became acquainted with Rugao, and Youth Automobile Chairman Pang Qingnian was an important matchmaker. Pang Qingnian is a car madman. He was once a guest of many local governments. Shizuishan, Ordos and other places provided funds, land, minerals and other resources to attract him to implement the youth car project. In these cities, Pang Qingnian put forward a grand car-building plan, but what was left in the end was nothing but chicken feathers. In May of last year, Pang Qingnian demonstrated a hydrogen energy car that can run with water in Nanyang, Henan, which caused public doubts. His youth car is now bankrupt.

  For Wang Xiaolin, automobile production qualification is a big problem in car building, and it is impossible to build a car without qualification. Wang Xiaolin recalled that an official of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission once proposed that letting Sailin settle down in the local area would provide Pang Youth with the car-building qualifications. “It should be no agreement. Pang Youth needs money, but Zhejiang may not be willing to give him that much. A sum of money."

  In the process of contact with Zhejiang, Pang Youth learned about Wang Xiaolin's needs for qualifications. Wang Xiaolin told China News Weekly that it was Pang Youth who contacted him on the initiative. After his introduction, he got to know the main leaders of Rugao. The main leaders of Rugao proposed to relocate Pang Qingnian’s auto production qualifications from Zhejiang to Rugao. Wang Xiaolin said, “This thing is very tempting to me.” However, according to the leaders of the Rugao government, the auto production qualifications must be moved to Rugao. Invest. Wang Xiaolin said that he is not clear about the specific investment.

  According to Zhong Shi, an automobile analyst, the approval card for domestic fuel vehicle projects is very tight, and it is certainly difficult to apply for a separate application, while new energy vehicle projects are relatively loose. In his view, new energy vehicle production qualifications are easy to buy, and the price generally exceeds 1 billion yuan. He believes that Jiangsu Sailin and Youth Automobile are both private enterprises. Because of the complicated relationship between the two and local governments, the operation level requires consultation between the two governments. However, the government plays a role of matchmaking in the sale of qualifications, and the specific negotiations must be based on two companies.

  In June 2016, Rugao and Wang Xiaolin signed a landing agreement, and Sailin has also been using Pang Youth's automobile production qualifications. "At that time, it was said that Pang Qingnian's automobile production qualifications would be borrowed, and Sai Lin belonged to borrowing a chicken to lay eggs. Apart from that, I had nothing to do with Pang Qingnian.

  Wang Xiaolin denied having close contact with Pang Youth. However, former Sai Lin executive Wang Jun told China News Weekly that the relationship between Wang Xiaolin and Pang Qingnian was not so simple, "Before Wang Xiaolin came, many resources belonged to Pang Qingnian. Nowadays, Rugao's resources are basically taken by Wang Xiaolin. Gone. The relationship between the two of them is actually at odds. I've seen them quarrel several times."

  The name of Jiangsu Sailin selected as a key project in Jiangsu Province is "Rugao Youth Sailin Passenger Car", and the word "Youth Car" is also printed on the rear of Sailin's car, which makes Wang Xiaolin very dissatisfied. "Rugao has seriously breached the contract and is in the joint venture agreement. Li wanted to give us the production qualifications, but in the end we didn't give them, we could only borrow them."

  In Wang Xiaolin's view, the contradiction between Sailin and the local government has been around for a long time. The important performance is that all the investment plans proposed by Sailin have been rejected by Rugao. "Our financing consultants offered loans with interest rates of 6.5%~8.5% several times, but were rejected by Nantong Jiahe for various reasons. In the end, we had to borrow from Nantong Jiahe at an interest rate of 10%~12%, and we also asked for foreign equity. To mortgage, I have always opposed this. Later, because the SUV had to be modeled, My car had to be produced and listed, and employees had to pay salaries, we could only use equity mortgages to borrow more than 2 billion yuan from Nantong Golden Harvest. ."

  "The discount of 150 million yuan, plus the land compensation of 150 million yuan, a total of 300 million yuan was not given to us." Wang Xiaolin said that after coming to Rugao, he also became the chairman of the chamber of commerce in Rugao Development Zone. Honeymoon period. But with the emergence of contradictions, there is no such closeness. "The contradiction between the two parties has been in existence for a long time, but it has broken out now."

Jia Yueting in the car industry?

  In the opinion of Wang Jun, a former executive of Sai Lin, Wang Xiaolin is especially good at packaging himself. He once pulled the platform of the brother of former US Secretary of State Hillary Hillary. Pulling the celebrity platform is an important bargaining chip for him to gain attention in China.

  According to public information, Wang Xiaolin obtained a bachelor's degree in law from Xiangtan University in 1989. After graduating from Xiangtan University, Wang Xiaolin served in the Western District People's Court of Changsha City until 1991, and then went to the United States to study at Ohio University and obtained a master's degree in international development studies. Later, Xiaolin Wang entered the Duke University School of Law. After obtaining a double degree with a Doctor of Laws from Duke University and a Master of Laws in International Comparative Law, Wang Xiaolin started working in the Washington office of Jiali Law Firm in New York, and then worked in the United States' oldest New York top lawyer Cadwalader continued to practice in the capital market department.

  "My father is a professor in law school. It is my life goal to be a lawyer in a major American law. As a result, I did it in my 30s." Wang Xiaolin told China News Weekly. Lost a sense of loss, no direction. At this time, Wang Xiaolin got acquainted with the "noble man" he hit-Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee of the United States. He had helped Clinton, Hillary and other candidates run for president and was known as the "king maker."

  "He asked me at the time, what do you want to do now? I said that I didn't think about it, or I should come out and work with me. He said that the next president will definitely be the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party will definitely engage in new energy." Wang Xiaolin said.

  McAuliffe led Wang Xiaolin to establish GreenTech Automotive, intending to make new energy vehicles. However, shortly after the establishment of the company, McAuliffe served as the chairman of the campaign committee of the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Hillary, and later the governor of Virginia. After McAuliffe continued to work in politics, Wang Xiaolin was gradually responsible for green technology, and Wang Xiaolin's car-making layout also started from this company.

  It is reported that in 2010, Green Technology spent 16 million yuan on the acquisition of Hong Kong’s EU Auto and obtained the intellectual property rights of micro electric vehicles. Qiao Yudong said that the amount spent was 20 million US dollars. Wang Xiaolin introduced that after purchasing the property rights, he spent more than 100 million US dollars to transform the technology, and finally injected 1.1 billion yuan into Jiangsu Sailin in the form of technology investment.

  In Wang Xiaolin's prequel to build a car, Yang Rong is an inescapable figure. In 2002, the "Brilliance Case" broke out. After the Liaoning Provincial Government confirmed the state-owned nature of Brilliance, it dispatched a working team to withdraw the operating rights of Brilliance. Previously, the former chairman of Brilliance Yang Rong had been operating and controlling the company. After negotiations with the local government broke down, Yang Rong left the United States and regarded himself as the "legitimate owner of Brilliance." In the following year, Yang Rong sued the Liaoning Provincial Government in a Washington court under the pretext of “appropriating private property” by the Liaoning Provincial Government. The case became the focus of public opinion at home and abroad.

  Wang Xiaolin, who was the president of the Chinese American Lawyers Association at the time, was an important driving force behind the case, and some sharp remarks also caused heated discussions in China. This case laid the foundation for future cooperation between Wang Xiaolin and Yang Rong. "After Yang Rong came to the United States, we had a short-term cooperation. He has no resources in the United States, but he has a lot of resources and experience in the country, and I have extensive resources in the United States." Wang Xiaolin told China News Weekly.

  After McAuliffe left, Wang Xiaolin and Yang Rong met once, and the two hit it off to build the car and began close cooperation. "He asked me to be the CEO of his Hong Kong company, and I asked him to be the chairman of American Motors." Wang Xiaolin described that when the two of them had the closest relationship, they acted as the heads of each other's companies and used the resources of China and the United States to build cars. .

  However, building a car requires a lot of funds. In order to raise funds, Wang Xiaolin and Yang Rong adopted the same gameplay. From 2009 to 2013, Green Technology launched the Employment-based Immigration Preferential Program (EB5) by charging people with immigration intentions. Funds provide the opportunity to obtain permanent residency in the United States. The program received a total of $140 million from 283 people.

  The close cooperation between the two was short-lived, and cracks soon appeared. "My position is that the two are partners, but his position is that I work for him. After a few months, I will definitely not be able to cooperate. Both of us belong to people with strong personalities, and then we parted ways." Wang Xiaolin Telling China News Weekly, "When the cooperation could not continue, he removed my CEO in Hong Kong. Since American Motors is the board of directors controlled by me, I removed his chairman. We both ran to Mississippi. There was a lawsuit."

  Green-tech cars are also in trouble. The New York Times reported in 2014 that in the five years since the establishment of green technology, “manufacturing headlines far surpassed cars... The company delivered very few cars, the new factory in Mississippi was delayed, and 350 promised The job was not realized."

  In 2018, Green Technology went bankrupt. The company’s legal counsel Norman D. Chirite submitted a report (hereinafter referred to as the bankruptcy report) to the Alexandria Chamber of the Bankruptcy Court of Eastern Virginia in the United States. trouble. In 2015, the US Department of Homeland Security conducted an investigation into the company's immigration investment plan. In addition, Mississippi state officials filed a lawsuit against Green Technology because the company failed to repay the $6.3 million reward provided by the state.

  When green technology was in the midst of controversy, Wang Xiaolin met Steve Sailin. He is the founder of Saleen Automotive, Inc. At this time, his company is struggling to survive. The announcement by Cylin of the United States showed that in July 2015, the company had only 21,000 US dollars on the book, and delayed wages and rents of millions of US dollars.

  For Wang Xiaolin, American Cylin Corporation is a new capital story for green technology. And cooperating with Wang Xiaolin can alleviate Steve Sailin's urgent need at the time. According to the US Serin announcement, in February 2014, the company signed an exclusive agreement with Green Technology to distribute all Serin cars in China. In June 2015, the company expanded its relationship with green technology, and the company signed an intellectual property licensing agreement with Sailin International, which is controlled by Wang Xiaolin. According to the above-mentioned agreement, Green Technology has obtained a sublicensable license. It exclusively uses all intellectual property rights of the US Cerin outside of North America, and manufactures, promotes, sells and sells other intellectual property rights in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Ways to use the intellectual property rights of Cylin. Green technology only needs to pay a certain patent fee.

  Since then, green technology has come together with American Sailin, Wang Xiaolin and Steve Sailin.

  With the blessing of the American Serin brand, Wang Xiaolin really began to "covet" the Chinese market. In fact, since at least 2009, Wang Xiaolin has been active in the domestic car-making army, from Inner Mongolia to Guangdong, from Sichuan to Jiangsu, leaving his footprints, but in the end, only Jiangsu Rugao got so much real money and support. .

  In October 2015, under the recommendation of Pang Qingnian, Weimeng Industrial (GTA, the major shareholder of green technology is Weimeng Industrial, which is also owned by Wang Xiaolin), Jinhua Youth Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and the management of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone The committee signed the three-party "Sino-US Joint Venture High-end Automobile Manufacturing Project Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement." In January 2016, Zifu Holding, Nantong Jiahe, and Rugao High-tech Entrepreneurship Service Co., Ltd. signed a tripartite "cooperation agreement."

  In March 2016, within one day, GTA established Rugao Jitai, and Zifu Holdings established Nantong Weimeng, Nantong Shimai, and Rugao Salin. The four companies invested 6.6 billion yuan in Jiangsu Race with four models including Mycar. Lin, Weimeng Industrial and Zifu Holdings acquired about 66% of the shares.

  At the same time that Jiangsu Sailin was raising billions of billions of funds in Rugao City, the US side, amidst doubts and litigation, green technology went bankrupt in 2018. Two years before the bankruptcy of green technology, it has been relying on Jiangsu Sailin to "continue life." The aforementioned bankruptcy report submitted by the company’s legal adviser Norman Kirit showed that in the two years before 2018, “the company can only survive through advance payments from its major shareholders and JSAT (Jiangsu Sailin) ​​engineering service fees.”

  Jiangsu Sailin is like a life-saving straw for green technology. According to the bankruptcy report, in 2017, Green Technology also tried to arrange for a Chinese investment fund to purchase the rights and interests of Jiangsu Sailin, but could not complete the transaction due to the aforementioned litigation issues. The report mentioned that if it can sell its equity in Jiangsu Sailin, the company will raise the salary of each key employee by 25%, or pay each key employee a severance payment equal to 100% of the basic salary.

  Green technology does not only want to seize the straw of Jiangsu Sailin, it also wants to use the domestic capital market. In 2017, Nanning Baling Technology Co., Ltd., an A-share listed company, issued an announcement to attempt a major asset reorganization. The object of the reorganization is the assets transferred by Jiangsu Sailin, which mainly includes S1 super sports car, micro electric vehicle plant, production equipment and related Proprietary technology of the vehicle model (including related US assets). However, the restructuring plan was cancelled due to the uncertainty of the transaction caused by the Sino-US trade war.

How to end

  "Sailing is down" has now become a well-known news in Rugao. Some media said that “the Rugao government was deceived by investors from the United States” and it has also become a topic among local people after dinner.

  Chen Jianjun, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Rugao Municipal Party Committee, told China News Weekly that a joint investigation team composed of multiple departments has been established in Rugao, and the relevant investigation is still ongoing.

  On the "CCP Rugao Municipal Party Committee News Network", the position of Ma Jinhua, the lead promoter of the Sailin project, also quietly changed. Before June 2020, Ma Jinhua's position was "Member of the Standing Committee of the Rugao Municipal Party Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone (in charge of the daily work of the Party Working Committee)". After June, only the "Standing Member of the Rugao Municipal Party Committee" was retained, in charge of agricultural and rural work, service industry and scientific and technological work.

  Rugao has not discovered the problem with Jiangsu Sailin before. A senior person in the automotive industry who participated in the decision of Rugao's new energy vehicles admitted to China News Weekly that "there is excuse." "Wang Xiaolin is one of the top financial lawyers and intellectual property lawyers in the United States. Even if the Rugao government hires a lawyer, he can't play with him." This person in the industry is very straightforward.

  In fact, Qiao Yudong started reporting Wang Xiaolin around October last year. Jiangsu also sent a working group to investigate. The investigation found that Wang Xiaolin had no problems in reporting.

  According to Wang Xiaolin, Jiangsu Sailin and Rugao communicate very closely. "Under normal circumstances, there is communication every week. Either they come here to inspect, or we go there to report. All the budgets are also Rugao. The government approves it here." But Tian Ming told China News Weekly that in his impression, no one from the Rugao government came to the project development site to carefully understand the progress of the SUV, nor did he communicate with the team leader.

  Sai Lin's former executive Wang Jun said: "The person in charge of the local government in Rugao did not have the determination and courage to open the lid. It was not until Qiao Yudong's real-name report caused strong public concern that Rugao had no retreat, so he started a thorough investigation." He thinks that if we investigate earlier, it will reduce a lot of losses. "Lu Zhizhou is equivalent to yellow, including Youth Automobile, Sailin, and Rugao has introduced problems in all projects." Wang Jun said frankly: "These car companies have been introduced to continuous problems. Is the local government not aware of the problem?"

  After Rugao initiated the investigation of Sailin, the company's operations were greatly affected, and a large number of employees left. In late June, senior vice president Chen Lei of Jiangsu Sailin, chief financial officer Yu Fuzhong, and personnel director Wang Fang, and other core executives have all proposed to leave.

  Now, in the northern suburbs of Rugao, the new energy automobile industry base, the first factory of Sailin has been empty. Next to the wall is Pang Qingnian's "Youth Automobile" Jiangsu branch, which has already stopped production. At Sailin No. 1 Plant, which is more than 20 minutes away by car, the Nantong Intermediate People's Court issued a seal-up notice issued on June 16, 2020. In addition, at the gate of the second plant, there was also a notice issued by the state-owned shareholder Nantong Jiahe to inform all employees of Sailin Auto, saying: “Because the chairman, CEO and legal representative of Jiangsu Sailin Auto, Wang Xiaolin has avoided the United States and neglected to perform Responsibilities made Jiangsu Sailin unsustainable, and the legitimate rights and interests of employees suffered losses."

  In an open letter sent to employees on June 30, Wang Xiaolin responded sharply, pointing out that all this is the "control" of state-owned shareholders, whose purpose is to embezzle equity and expel foreign shareholders.

  Sai Lin's former executive Wang Jun believes that the current problem of the Rugao government is how to take back the control of Jiangsu Sailin. "If Sailin goes bankrupt, nearly 6 billion yuan would be a waste of money."

  The struggle between the two parties for "control" is still in stalemate. On July 15, Nantong Jiahe sent to Zhou Feng, the supervisor of Jiangsu Sailin, to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting on August 4. The main topics were: removal of chairman Wang Xiaolin and election of Zhang Weiwei as the new director and chairman. At the same time, at the shareholders' meeting, the company's articles of association were revised to require all directors of the board of directors to be appointed by a shareholder of Nantong Jiahe, the notice period for the board of directors and shareholders was shortened to three days, and the meeting must be held on-site.

  According to the official website of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone, Zhang Weiwei's current position is "Director of Rugao Economic and Technological Development Zone New Energy Automobile Industrial Park", presiding over the overall work of the park, and specifically contacting two vehicle companies, Lu Zhizhou and Sailin. According to media reports, Zhang Weiwei was once the secretary of Ma Jinhua, former deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Rugao Development Zone. This move is regarded as state-owned shareholders wanting to take over Jiangsu Sailin in an all-round way.

  "(Nantong Jiahe), as a small shareholder, is it possible to remove the directors elected by the shareholders meeting? This is a matter of common sense." Wang Xiaolin refused to convene this shareholders meeting on the other side of the ocean, and the two sides confronted again.

  Luo Zhiyu, director of the domestic and foreign investment, financing and mergers and acquisitions department of Jingshi Law Firm, told China News Weekly that if the majority shareholder refuses to cooperate, Rugao State-owned Assets, as a minority shareholder, has the right to propose a shareholder meeting, but its proposal may not be passed. Since its shareholding ratio is only 33.4%, the same shares have the same rights, Rugao state-owned assets have no more than two-thirds of the voting rights. Although Rugao state-owned shareholders have a veto power to veto Wang Xiaolin's proposal, it is also difficult for Rugao state-owned assets to get its bill passed in a normal way.

  If the Rugao government wants to regain control of the company, it can only go through judicial procedures. Luo Zhiyu analyzed that through litigation, Rugao state-owned assets can bypass the company's articles of association and fight for company control. However, this method also has many shortcomings. "After a criminal complaint is filed by the public security organ, it will take a long time to reach a judgment. For similar commercial criminal cases, it will take at least one year to complete the case or complete the case. The incidental civil proceedings at the review and prosecution stage are relatively passive to small shareholders."

  "If the two parties' investment agreement has stipulated, for example, the actual controller's behavior seriously harms the company's interests, and the investor has the right to dispose of the equity and remove its chairmanship, the situation will not evolve into the current situation." Luo Zhiyu sighed, in actual operation , The establishment of a strict agreement binding mechanism is very important, "Unfortunately there is no if."

  Chen Jianjun, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Rugao Municipal Party Committee, told China News Weekly that the public security organs have filed a case for investigation and the factory has also been sealed up. “Because the numbers involved are indeed relatively large and the time span is relatively long, the investigation does not mean that there will be results overnight.” Chen Jianjun said that Rugao is also learning lessons. The hole caused by this incident must be filled. "It is definitely impossible to say that such a large piece of land (more than 900 mu) is deserted there. It will definitely be revitalized as soon as possible to minimize the loss. Where to go next, it may require relevant experts to sit down and make a decision."

  "What Wang Xiaolin said is called court testimony." Chen Jianjun said that there are relevant legal professionals in the local area who will cross-examine each sentence of him and provide consultation to the investigation team.

  After the incident, Wang Xiaolin, who was far away in the United States, continued to be interviewed by the media, and pointed the finger at Rugao. He believed that the root cause of Jiangsu Sailin's collapse was "caused by individual leaders of Rugao and Nantong Jiahe." "It doesn't make any sense for me to return to China. I will use the United States as my base to fight a protracted battle with Nantong Jiahe."

  China News Weekly, Issue 29, 2020

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