Ex-SIP boss no stranger to Sino-S'pore projects

Former Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) chief executive officer Bai Guizhi, who is being investigated for graft, may have been in his role for less than three months, but he is no stranger to Sino- Singapore bilateral projects.

Chinese media reports said he was previously chairman and general manager of the Suzhou Industrial Park Neighbourhood Centre Development (SIPNC), which runs the Singapore-style community clubs in the bilateral project.

In October 2012, Mr Bai was signatory for the SIPNC to a joint venture with Guangzhou Zhicheng Real Estate Investment to build, develop and manage neighbourhood centres in the Guangzhou Knowledge City, a private sector-led project between Singapore and China.

Mr Bai, 59, was also former deputy chief executive of the Suzhou Ventures Group and concurrently general manager of its subsidiary, the SIP Ease-Rich Assets Management, which was set up in 2007 and specialises in real estate financing.

He reportedly holds an engineering master's degree from Zhengzhou University and a master's in business administration from the University of Texas at Arlington in the United States.

"He is a soft-spoken, friendly, approachable person. We are all shocked when we heard the news of his investigations," said a reliable source who has worked with Mr Bai.

Mr Bai is said to have worked in Suzhou city and elsewhere in Jiangsu province in eastern China.

The 21st Century Business Herald said he could have been implicated in the case of former Nanjing party committee member Feng Yajun, who was placed under investigation two weeks ago. Nanjing is Jiangsu's capital city.

"They have a common briber," an unnamed official was quoted as saying.

Separately, an SIP venture in neighbouring Anhui province - the Suzhou-Chuzhou Modern Industrial Park - has also been hit by scandal.

Its administrative committee's head Xing Gao was investigated for graft in April and sacked subsequently.

This article was first published on September 21, 2014.
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