Details are emerging of China's largest suspected bank fraud after the former chairman of a company listed on London's Alternative Investment Market appeared in a Chinese court last week.
Prosecutors in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou allege that Wang Sheng, former chairman of Canton Properties, a prominent developer in southern China, obtained about Rmb4.8bn ($702m) of illegal loans from Bank of Communications, a state-controlled lender 18.6 per cent owned by HSBC, the bank.
Mr Wang, also known as Keng Wong, was the main recipient of the illegal loans, which were arranged with the help of a senior BoComm executive and never made available to the company, prosecutors claim.