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China executes Ferrari-loving billionaire 'gangster'
Liu Han, a mining tycoon known for his love of cigars, casinos and fast cars, is executed for "tyrannical" crimes and mafia killings as Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive continues

Liu Han sits in courtroom as he learns of his death sentence in Hubei province in China on August 07th, 2014
Liu Han sits in courtroom as he learns of his death sentence in Hubei province in China on August 07th, 2014 Photo: Xinhua News Agency/REX
By Tom Phillips, Beijing9:24AM GMT 09 Feb 2015 Comments175 Comments
A Chinese billionaire famed for his love of casinos, cigars and luxury cars was executed on Monday in one of the most dramatic episodes yet in president Xi Jinping's war on corruption.
Liu Han, a 49-year-old mining tycoon once worth at least £4.2 billion, was one of five alleged mafia kingpins to receive the death penalty after being convicted of offences including gun-running and murder.
The part-time God Father "tyrannised local people and seriously harmed the local economic and social order," Xinhua, China's official news agency, said in a brief dispatch announcing the execution.
Prior to his death Liu was allowed a final "meeting" with his family, Xinhua added.
Liu Han made his money in construction and went on to become the chairman of the Hanlong Group, a Chengdu-based mining firm with interests in Australia, Africa and the United States.
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Worth an estimated 40 billion yuan (£4.2 billion) at his peak, the tycoon was a vocal and extravagant regular in the business pages, boasting of his diamond watches and fleet of Bentleys, Ferraris and Rolls-Royces.
In a 2010 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Liu bragged of plans to buy a billion tons of uranium. "Liu Han always wins. Liu Han never loses," said the billionaire, who was reportedly wearing a knee-length mink jacket.
Yet for all his business acumen, Liu's parallel life as an "evil gangster" proved his undoing.
Liu Han (EPA)
The disgraced billionaire was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to death last May, with a court in Hubei province declaring him head of "a cabal of ferocious gangsters". Xinhua said Liu was "a ruthless underworld kingpin" and claimed one of his gangs had been found in possession of three grenades, 20 guns, 677 bullets, 2,163 shotgun cartridges and more than 100 knives.
The most violent of his alleged crimes came in 2009 when he masterminded a drive-by shooting in Sichuan province in which three people were killed.
"It was so fast. It was like watching a movie," a witness to the executions told state media.
On Monday, state media spun Liu's execution as the latest victory in Xi Jinping's war on corruption. The tycoon's mafia group had been "harboured and indulged by government officials," Xinhua claimed.
Yet sceptics believe the billionaire's execution is merely the latest chapter in a political purge of Mr Xi's rivals. Liu had connections to Zhou Yongkang, the disgraced former security chief who was recently expelled from the Communist Party and is awaiting sentencing for corruption.
Liu Han is escorted by police officers during his trial in April 2014 (Imagechina/REX)
Andrew Wedeman, a political scientist who studies corruption in China, said Xi Jinping faced a tough juggling act to convince Chinese citizens he was successfully slaying powerful and corrupt "tigers" such as Liu and Mr Zhou without simply exposing a Party that was rotten to the core.
"It is a tricky business because as you hang more pelts from the walls of Zhongnanhai [the leadership compound in Beijing] ... do people say, "Wow you are a great tiger hunter!"? Or do they go, "Oh my God! There are an awful lot of tigers out there in the hills!"?
"He is walking a tightrope," Prof Wedeman said of the Communist Party leader.
Mr Liu, who was executed alongside his brother and three alleged accomplices, denied the charges against him.
"I've been framed," he shouted during his sentencing last year, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

ATÉ ASSASSINOS ANDAM POR AÍ NA BOA...DEVIDO ÀS "GARANTIAS" QUANTO MAIS CORRUPTOS QUE AFUNDARAM A NAÇÃO...E A QUEREM VER MUITO MAIS ESCURINHA DEPOIS DE TEREM ENTREGUE TUDO O QUE TINHA PRETO E NÃO ERA NOSSO...