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I lost my phone, says ‘missing’ CEO
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THE missing chief executive of embattled German-listed Chinese shoemaker Ultrasonic AG has resurfaced in China to deny absconding with millions of dollars of company money. He said he had been traveling and had lost his mobile phone.
Wu Qingyong, who was dismissed last week after his “disappearance,” separately told an Ultrasonic executive he would return to the company and give back any funds, the firm said in a statement yesterday. However, its supervisory board had been unable to contact Wu directly.
In a video interview with news portal sina.com, posted on Sunday, Wu said the whole matter was a misunderstanding. He had simply been on holiday in Hong Kong with his grandson and having medical checks in the Philippines.
“Rumors say that I took more than a billion (yuan). This is pure rumor. No such thing has happened. The company’s financial situation remains normal,” Wu said.
The interview took place in the southeastern city of Quanzhou, where the firm is based.
The company statement said Wu had contacted the firm’s chief financial officer, Clifford Chan, and a German broker by phone over the weekend, saying “he would return to the company and that he would also return the funds.”
Senior executives are said to have met on Sunday to discuss Wu’s reappearance.
Wu held just over 52 percent of the company’s shares on August 15, according to its first-half financial report. The management board includes Wu, his son Wu Minghong and Chan.
Last Tuesday, Ultrasonic said Wu Qingyong and his son, who is the company’s chief operating officer, had been missing since the weekend, and most of the company’s cash reserves in China’s mainland and Hong Kong had vanished. On Thursday, the company said the pair had withdrawn the cash in two tranches.
In the Sina interview, in which Wu appeared with another son, Wu Mingjun, he said he intended to track down those responsible for publishing the “announcement” and spreading rumors.
Ultrasonic’s shares more than doubled to around 2.3 euros (US$3) in Frankfurt yesterday, but were still more than 60 percent down from where they began last week.
Wu’s comments appeared to conflict with those of Ultrasonic’s supervisory board, which formally dismissed him last Thursday, saying he and his son had drawn down a US$60 million credit facility in August and transferred money to the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong before disappearing.
Cathay United Bank, one of seven lenders behind loans to Ultrasonic, filed a police report in Hong Kong last Friday, according to a banking insider.
Representatives of Cathay United, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holdings Co Ltd, also visited Ultrasonic’s facility in Quanzhou’s neighboring city of Xiamen last week, but found that the plant was closed.
In his Sina interview, Wu said he had returned to China as soon as he could after hearing about the rumors.
“I did not run away. Rumors around society and on the web are saying that I took the money and ran,” Wu said. “My reputation and that of the company have suffered great damage, and I retain my right to prosecute those who spread the rumor.”
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