Former China JPMorgan Exec Arrested in Hong Kong
Bianca Ortega | | May 21, 2014 11:28 AM EDT |
(Photo : The Diplomacist) Fang Fang, the former chief executive officer (CEO) JPMorgan Chase’s China investment banking.
JPMorgan Chase's former chief of China investment banking has been arrested in Hong Kong by the country's anticorruption agency.
This arrest could possibly lead to a new angle in the global investigation into the hiring practices of the said bank in China.
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Fang Fang has already been released on bail but is forbidden from travelling beyond the borders of Hong Kong.
The 48-year-old former bank executive was arrested by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), according to Beijing-based financial news agency Caixin.
Fang had resigned from JPMorgan in March, but he has become the center of US federal bribery investigation into the firm's "Sons and Daughters" hiring practice. The investigation seeks to find out if the practice was a violation against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Last year, US authorities have begun looking into connections between the employment of senior Chinese leaders' children and the role of JPMorgan in certain business deals.
The exact date of Fang's arrest and the duration of his detainment have not been confirmed.
Based on Hong Kong's securities database, Fang's brokerage license was canceled on March 21. On March 24, the bank issued an internal memo announcing Fang's "desire to retire."
Late March 26, more than 10 ICAC officials searched JPMorgan's local office in the Central business district of the city. Some documents from Fang's office have been confiscated, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported.
The scope of the investigation may expand because of Hong Kong's Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. This law covers a wider scope including all forms of graft, even those outside government and state agencies, according to The New York Times.
Fang has not been charged of any wrongdoing as a result of the probe. Executives of the bank, as well, have not been charged.
Fang has been one of the execs who had helped close lucrative deals for the bank, including the deal with state-owned banking firm China Everbright Group. The latter's link with JPMorgan is currently being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
Recently, JPMorgan has severed its ties with deals linked with its present or previous employees. After Fang's arrest, Hong Kong's anticorruption group would most likely take a closer look into his role in the same deals that the US have been investigating.
According to Hong Kong-based corporate governance activist David Webb, Hong Kong's anti-corruption law has a wider scope than that of China's because it covers nongovernment entities. However, Webb also said Hong Kong has no extradition treaty with mainland China.
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