Come and get your comeuppance!

Something of a hodge-podge of news today, but exciting nonetheless. We’ve got to start with the unfolding events surrounding the arrest of Gome founder Huang Guangyu. In the latest chapter in our serialized crime drama (CFI-China Financial Investigation), authorities have snared the assistant minister of public security Zheng Shaodong. Zheng rose to fame for arresting Hong Kong gangster Cheung Tse-keung as well as resolving the 1995 robbery of the Macau branch of the Bank of China. Comeuppance delivered! But now to comeuppance averted… Despite previous comments that the financial crisis would hurt its bottom line, CITIC Bank has announced an estimated 60% rise in net profits for 2008, with NPLs accounting for less than 1.4% of the bank’s portfolio. The results have yet to be audited, but CITIC’s Hong Kong shares received a bump anyway. And as the world reels from the global financial crisis, Alibaba’s Jack Ma is putting together plans for global domination. In an exclusive interview with the FT, he outlined his ambitions to turn Alibaba into the world’s web marketplace.