Liquor company missing $16.5m from bank account

JiuGuijiu Co said in a statement on Monday evening almost 100 million yuan ($16.5 million) was mysteriously missing from a bank account of a subsidiary of the liquor company in early December.

JiuGuiJiu Supply and Marketing Co reported the case to the police but the damage to the company is not yet known.

The suspected embezzlement happened in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang.

A suspect deposited 200 yuan on Dec 10 and 300 yuan on Dec 11 into the company's account, and withdrew 35 million yuan on Dec 11. After depositing 500 yuan into the account on Dec 12, the suspect then withdrew 35 million yuan later the same day and transferred a further 30 million yuan from the account one day later, leaving only 1,176.03 yuan in the account.

While the police are still investigating the case, Xiaoxiang Morning Post quoted a financial executive of a listed company as saying it is probable the embezzlement was done by someone within the company.

In the first half of 2013, the sales revenue of the subsidiary was 215 million yuan, according to the newspaper.

Many netizens were suspicious of why the company only disclosed the incident more than one month later.