The CEO and the financial director of the Chinese real estate group Evergrande are fired. The company reported this on Friday, according to Bloomberg news agency. The forced departure of Xia Haijun and Pan Darong is the result of an investigation that revealed they were involved in dubious lending practices. Evergrande was on the brink of collapse last year, causing major turmoil in international financial markets.
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Under the rule of the two top executives, about 2 billion euros from an Evergrande business unit has been used for guarantees to third parties, according to preliminary research. This put the cash position of that part of the second largest real estate company in China at serious risk.
In total, the real estate giant has a debt of about 300 billion euros, on which it is trying to reach an agreement with creditors. Evergrande is also in talks with the Chinese authorities, who would consider dismantling the group. Last year, founder Xu Jiayin had to step back because of all the problems.