Ex-Hanlong Mining exec jailed in Australia for insider trading

A former executive of private Chinese firm Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd was sentenced to two years and three months in jail by an Australian court on Friday for insider trading, Australia's corporate watchdog said.

Bo Shi Zhu, who was also known as Calvin Zhu, pleaded guilty last July to three counts of insider trading carried out between 2006 and 2011, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said.

Zhu is a former vice-president of Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd (Hanlong Mining), which has been facing long delays in trying to secure Chinese government approval for a $1.4 billion takeover of Australia's Sundance Resources .

The charges he pleaded guilty to included trading in shares of Sundance and another Hanlong takeover target, Bannerman Resources , when he was at Hanlong.

Zhu, an Australian citizen, was among several Hanlong executives whom the corporate watchdog targeted in a probe into insider trading in Sundance and Bannerman.

He also admitted to trading in shares of credit risk provider Veda Advantage while he was at financial advisory firm Caliburn Partnership when he knew about a planned private equity bid, and to trading in wholesaler Funtastic Ltd when he knew about a private equity bid while he was an associate at Credit Suisse.

The commission said gross profits from his trades amounted to A$1.3 million ($1.4 million), while his share was A$370,000.

The watchdog is still investigating other people tied to Hanlong and declined to comment further. ($1 = 0.9655 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Richard Pullin)