A CELEBRATED businessman went on trial in Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court yesterday for allegedly organizing prostitution rackets and destroying material evidence.

    According to the indictment, Liang Yaohui, also known as Taizi Hui, or Crown Prince Hui, and 47 of his hotel employees, were investigated for arranging more than 100 prostitutes to engage in sexual acts for money in the Crown Prince Hotel in the city’s Huangjiang Township since April 2004.

    Liang denied the charges in court.

    Liang, 48, was chairman of the hotel, one of the five-star properties in Dongguan.

    Liang reportedly set up 99 separate sauna rooms in the hotel where sexual acts took place.

    Liang’s hotel was closed down after the local government launched an “exterminate yellow” campaign — the color in China associated with prostitution — after China Central Television exposed the illegal trade in Dongguan in February 2014.

    More than 6,000 police raided 2,000 establishments in the industrial city, with more than 900 people detained.

    Liang was arrested April 14 for running a prostitution racket and destroying material evidence, according to Dongguan police.

    A verdict is expected.

    (Continued on P4)

    According to Chinese laws, organizing prostitution can result in life in prison or even death if the crime is deemed serious enough, and the illegal gains can be confiscated.

    Liang, one of the richest people in the city, was a famous entrepreneur in Dongguan.

    Liang built a multimillion-dollar business in the service industry and opened the Crown Prince Hotel in 1996.

    He is also said to control the nation’s largest hotel, the Dongguan OYV International Convention Hotel.

    In recent years, he invested in oil wells and became an executive with the Zhongyuan Petroleum Group. He is said to own 10 oil wells in Kazakhstan, CNR reported.

    He was once chosen as one of the top 10 charitable people in Dongguan. He has donated more than 56 million yuan (US$9 million) to local charitable organizations.

    Liang was selected as the deputy of the National People’s Congress in January 2008, but he was dismissed after he was detained April 14.

    (SD-Agencies)