The Chinese Communist Party crackdown on ship finance has resumed with the reported airport detention of a former team leader at ICBC Financial Leasing.
Chinese financial sources told TradeWinds that Zhang Siliang (Stacy Zhang) was detained on 2 or 3 February by officials of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport.
Until her duties changed late last year in a broader reorganisation, Zhang was the commercial head of gas shipping at the Beijing-based ship finance powerhouse. Sources believe she in the process of resigning from ICBC Leasing to work at another, unnamed ship finance house.
One former close colleague, who was not among the sources for the information, told TradeWinds: “If she has been taken away, I am shocked.”
Zhang could not be contacted for comment. Head of shipping Jia Hao (Jason Jia) of ICBC Leasing told TradeWinds he does not know if she has been detained.
The news follows TradeWinds’ report in January that the first target of the CCDI’s investigations, former Export-Import Bank of China shipping head Li Li, had been formally charged following the conclusion of the CCDI internal party investigation into her case.
No accusations of wrongdoing have been made public in the Zhang case.
The CCDI is not a state but a Chinese Communist Party organ, and its investigations and disciplinary actions are extrajudicial and can have political implications.
CCDI investigations are generally represented in the Chinese press as financial corruption cases, however, and they are often followed up with criminal trials.
Zhang has previously been involved in large LNG newbuilding finance deals for foreign clients, both in Chinese and foreign yards.
Before she returned to China and joined ICBC Leasing, she worked in Canada for financial shipowner Seaspan, as it was then known. Some sources believe Zhang may hold Canadian citizenship, which could have a bearing on her case.
At least one other target of the ongoing CCDI investigations, Norwegian shipowner David Wu of Landmark Capital and Saga LNG, is a foreign passport holder.
Zhang’s CCDI investigation would make her the 10th high-profile target within ship finance since approximately the beginning of 2022.
TradeWinds reported in February 2022 that Chinese ship finance pioneer Li of CExim had been taken away at the same time as her former colleague Wang Wei (Eric Wang), founder of boutique lease finance arranger Smarine Advisors.
At the time of her detention, Li was the head and party secretary of the CExim Shanghai branch. Earlier, as its Beijing head of shipping, she had supervised Wang and several others who would go on to prominent roles in Chinese ship finance.
Wave of detentions
Last summer, a further wave of CCDI detentions decimated the top tier of Chinese ship finance.
Those taken away include Fang Xiuzhi, shipping head of Bank of Communications Leasing; Guo Fangmeng (Bill Guo) of Citic Financial Leasing (Citic FL) and formerly of ICBC Leasing; Fan Qiyong, shipping head of Minsheng Financial Leasing; Yang Changkun (CK Yang), partner of Equator Fund Management and ex-head of shipping at ICBC Leasing and CExim; Wu of Landmark Capital; and former ICBC Leasing executives Ji Fuxing and Lv Zhuo (Luke Lv).
Personal friends or family members of three of the 10 targets have told TradeWinds the detainees have only had contact with their families through lawyers, and that the lawyers themselves only have sporadic contact with their clients.
