"Investcorp Securities is a UK subsidiary of the Bahrain-based private equity firm Investcorp International. The parent company has provided financial backing to several controversial Chinese technology firms including Sense Time, a pioneering facial recognition startup. In 2018, Investcorp International announced its debut investment in China, pledging up to $150m (112m) to the China Everbright new economy fund. The fund was designed to support the Chinese technology sector and promised huge opportunities for investors in the advent of AI."
"The China Everbright Group is an asset manager that is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government. One beneficiary was Sense Time, whose surveillance technology is used by the Chinese police. Investcorp International is understood to retain a small financial stake in the company. Human rights groups have accused China of carrying out mass surveillance on the Uyghur population in its northwestern Xinjiang province. More than a million Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in a large network of re-education camps."
A government watchdog advised a former minister that he could work with a subsidiary of a company linked to Chinese surveillance technology. Richard Fuller joined Investcorp Securities as an advisory board member in 2023 and has continued working for the firm while holding Conservative party roles. Investcorp Securities is a UK arm of Investcorp International, which invested in China Everbright’s new economy fund and provided backing to firms including SenseTime. SenseTime develops facial recognition used by Chinese police, and human rights groups accuse China of mass surveillance and large-scale detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]