Judge finds evidence of Citic fraud
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GS(14)@2011-03-19 13:48:15http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20110318/news_20110318_56_741956.htm
Judge finds evidence of Citic fraud
18-03-2011
Simon Lee reports
Citic Pacific loses court bid. File photo.
A High Court judge has found there's evidence that Citic Pacific could have been involved in a conspiracy to defraud. Mr Justice Alan Wright rejected a bid by the company to prevent documents seized during a fraud investigation from being used against it in future court proceedings.
The judge said in his ruling that there was an apparent case of conspiracy to defraud. He said that Citic had given up its right to claim professional privilege when it surrendered the documents to the Securities and Futures Commission. The judge ordered the documents to be sealed for two weeks to give the company time to consider an appeal against his decision.
The Department of Justice alleged during an earlier hearing that Citic directors asked for loans from banks without disclosing that the company had made huge losses in currency deriviative trading in 2008. The court heard there was 'clear evidence' of fraud.
Police seized the documents during a raid on the head office of the steelmaker and property developer in 2009. They were investigating whether Citic had made false statements or conspired to defraud in relation to unauthorized bets on the Australian dollar.