Two more Citic Securities chiefs named in Chinese police investigation into ‘malicious short-selling’
Top executives are among eight employees of the brokerage being questioned by police, as sources say more industry casualties likely
Two more top Citic Securities executives were on Thursday named as having been taken away by mainland police as part of an investigation into illegal securities trading, as Beijing toughens its stance on what it calls "malicious short-selling".
Two sources revealed that in addition to managing director Xu Gang, two other members of the brokerage's executive committee, Ge Xiaobo and Liu Wei, were also "asked to assist in the investigation", as was Liang Jun, Citic Securities chairman Wang Dongming's secretary. Police were investigating suspected market manipulation, falsification of government documents and insider trading, they said.
They said the investigation into the Citic managers was a result of the leadership's determination to curb the short selling that had wreaked havoc on the A-share market since mid-June.
Read more: Citic Securities among five of China’s top brokerages under probe amid stock market slump
Police took away eight Citic officials on Tuesday, sending shockwaves through the stock market. Two China Securities Regulatory Commission officials and a reporter for magazine are also being questioned.
The reported yesterday that Xu was among the eight Citic officials detained and that the probe had begun several weeks ago.
"The severity of the problem and the depth of the investigations turned out to beat many people's expectations," one source with business ties with Citic said. "It is a sign more influential securities industry officials will be uncovered as the authorities deepen investigations."
More influential officials will be uncovered as the investigations deepen
Xinhua said on Tuesday that the police would "get to the bottom of things" and no one violating market regulations would be exempted from punishment.
