Chinese authorities have not confirmed whether a Hong Kong court summons has been delivered to Huang Guangyu, the retail tycoon who is the subject of investigations in both jurisdictions.
The apparent failure to make contact with the former chairman of Gome Electrical Appliance, cited yesterday by Justice Susan Kwan in a Hong Kong High Court hearing to change an asset freeze order, emphasises how investigations in the territory can run into a brick wall at the border.
Mr Huang, one of China's richest men, was detained last year in Beijing for vaguely defined “economic crimes”. He and his wife, Du Juan, have also been charged by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission with “fraud or deception” in connection with a 2008 share buy-back.