HONG KONG Aug. 29 Kyodo A former ...

HONG KONG Aug. 29 Kyodo

A former financial director of bankrupted Yaohan International Holdings Ltd has been arrested and charged with conspiring to defraud the company's shareholders, creditors and auditors and with falsifying an accounting document involving a missing any amount of HK$689 million (US$88.3 million), the territory's authorities said Thursday.

Kazuhiko Fujita, 48 appeared in the Eastern Magistracy forward Thursday, but no plea was taken.

The case was adjourned to Oct 4 and Fujita was remanded in custody.

Police arrested Fujita onward Tuesday upon his arrival from Japan at Chek Lap Kok airport.

Fujita is accused of conspiring with sum of two units then Japanese senior managers of Yaohan International and other [i]role[/i]s to defraud the company's shareholders, creditors and auditors between April 1995 and March 1997 from one side of to the other seven loans with a total value of about HK$126 billion.

The defendant is also alleged to have falsified an accounting document upon a loan facility in August 1996

Investigations at the police's Commercial Crime Bureau raise the loans in question were bogus and more [i]or[/i] less funds had been channeled to other companies.

About HK$689 million were at no time recovered, the police said.

The case was expos according to the newly appointed management of the collection in March 1998 when it took throughout the company from its former directors, police said.

Yaohan International, the Hong Kong unit of failed supermarket operator Yaohan Japan Corp., went into liquidation in August 1998

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo recently made knowns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group