The allegations of financial misstatements made by Trony Solar Holdings mark yet another instance of a mainland company listed in Hong Kong being beyond the reach of the Securities and Futures Commission.
The SFC, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants declined to say if they would investigate the claims.
The solar equipment maker has voluntarily halted trading of its shares since June 2012 after receiving anonymous e-mails alleging it had cooked the books before and after its listing in October 2010.
In September 2012, Trony appointed PwC to review its accounts and the findings were disclosed last month. It said PwC found three sets of books with significantly different figures but was unable to conclude which set was true as the supporting documents were missing, data stored in company computers had been deleted and top managers had no knowledge of the matter.
"This shows the urgent need for the SFC and the stock exchange to strengthen regulation over the quality of new listings. More should be done to prevent listing candidates from using dubious financial statements to sell their shares," said Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, the legislator for the financial services sector.
Cheung said the incident also highlighted the difficulties of cross-border investigations as under the "one country, two systems" policy, the SFC and other Hong Kong regulators had no authority to probe mainland companies and could only seek the help of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
This shows the urgent need for the SFC and the stock exchange to strengthen regulation over the quality of new listings