Daqing Dairy's chairman Zhao Yu and chief financial officer Fong Pin Jan resigned yesterday, according to the company. Their resignations follow that of several directors from the mainland dairy company and its former auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which expressed misgivings about Daqing's financial statements. Fong put in his papers because he was unable to help Deloitte resolve its misgivings due to "extensive damage to the computer and accounting records of the company in an accident disclosed in the announcement of the company dated January 9", said Daqing. On Wednesday, Daqing said it had discovered on January 2 that heating pipes in its offices in Daqing city, Heilongjiang province, had cracked, causing extensive damage to the office facilities, computers and documents. "The incident did not cause an impact on the daily operations of Daqing. The management anticipates the incident will not cause significant adverse impact on the profit and loss and assets of the company," it said. Fong had previously tendered his resignation on June 15 last year but was persuaded by the board to stay on to help resolve the issues raised by Deloitte, Daqing said. The accounting firm resigned as its auditor on March 21, citing misgivings about its accounts, Daqing said at the time. "We continue to have concerns about matters pervasive to the financial statements including certain milk procurement transactions brought to the attention of management and acknowledged by them to be fraudulent," Deloitte said in its resignation letter to Daqing. Zhao was replaced as chairman by Zhao Chuanwen yesterday. Since Deloitte's resignation, seven directors have resigned from Daqing. On May 31, Daqing received a letter of complaint from Ever Union Capital, which held more than 5 per cent of the company, expressing disagreement with the way the board had handled company affairs since Deloitte's resignation. Trading in Daqing's stock has been suspended since March 22.
