BEIJING • A Chinese government housing vice-minister has lodged a US$10 million (S$13.7 million) defamation lawsuit against exiled billionaire Guo Wengui in New York over claims he made that she had engaged in corruption and provided sexual favours..
BEIJING • A Chinese government housing vice-minister has lodged a US$10 million (S$13.7 million) defamation lawsuit against exiled billionaire Guo Wengui in New York over claims he made that she had engaged in corruption and provided sexual favours.
Ms Huang Yan, vice-minister of housing and urban-rural development, filed the complaint with the New York State Supreme Court last Wednesday, saying Mr Guo’s „false and outrageous“ claims, made in a YouTube video in May, had caused her „severe emotional distress“ and „mental anguish“.
It is the first legal case brought by an individual Chinese government official since Mr Guo began accusing high-level Communist Party members of corruption, and represents an exceedingly rare instance of a senior serving official pursuing legal action against a person overseas.
Ms Huang’s complaint says Mr Guo, also known as Miles Kwok, had falsely alleged that she helped real estate developers secure project approvals by providing sexual favours to a Beijing government official, and in turn received property assets from the developers who benefited.
