"Chairman of the Hong Kong conglomerate Citic Pacific resigns amid scandal over monetary losses | AboutHK.Com - more information about HK"

The chairman of the conglomerate Citic Pacific, the Hong Kong arm of Chinese government investment company, resigned Wednesday amid a scandal about monetary losses to China's highest-profile corporate casualty of the global financial crisis. Chairman Larry Yung Hong Kong police reinforced after the office Friday in an investigation into the wrongway bets on foreign currencies, the cost of the company 2 billion U.S. dollars, said Citic Pacific. Managing Director Henry Fan was also abandoned. "Mr. Yung believed that his resignation would be in the best interests of the company," the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Their departures mark the biggest boardroom shake-up in China over the global economic meltdown forces from top executives from the U.S. to Japan to Europe, and damage, which has long been a leading symbol of the Chinese company's ambitions. Yung is from the Chinese company royalties, the son of former Vice President Rong Yiren - who was one of the greatest magnates and once as the "red capitalists". Yung was among the richest people in China with assets of around 3.7 billion by Forbes Magazine in 2007. Citic Pacific - a huge conglomerate run their businesses from airlines to mining and Wal-Mart Stores - stunned the market last year, when it massive losses on hedging contracts for foreign currencies, primarily the Australian dollar, sour, that in the midst of the financial crisis. The company was forced to a 1.5 billion U.S. dollar bailout from its Beijing-based affiliate Citic Group, the Chinese Government's main investment company. Chang Zhenming, a vice chairman and president of Citic Group, was appointed as new Chairman and CEO. The losses have triggered protests, outrage among investors and separate inquiries from securities regulators and the police, amid allegations the company knew about the problem weeks before telling the market. On Friday, the Hong Kong Police - to investigate the allegations of false statements by the Executive Board and the conspiracy to defraud - executed a search warrant at the company headquarters in Hong Kong to exchange information on monetary and business news. After the loss was in October, Yung and the guilt of the company originally two top leaders, both later ousted, for entering into contracts without proper authorization. Yung's daughter, in the society, was demoted and had her salary cut. Last month, the company recorded a 12.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.6 billion U.S. dollar) net loss for the year 2008 - the first annual loss in years. Other Chinese companies have management reshuffles in the midst of the crisis - including white goods giant Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings and computer manufacturer Lenovo - when Citic Pacific is the company deep-governmental relations and direct connection to the financial turbulence. Yung Citic Pacific was founded in 1986 with 30 million U.S. Dollar from the Cabinet of the foreign investment arm, the China International Trust and Investment Corp, Citic Group now. Today, Citic Group owns 22 percent of Citic Pacific, with the rest of managers and private investors. Citic Pacific shares were to trade Thursday after being suspended for several days. Comments Please login to post comments or replies.