Anti-bribery investigators in Hong Kong have raided the home of Wong Tung Ching, a senior executive of Guotai Junan International Holdings, leading the firm to temporarily suspend trading in its shares.

Anti-bribery investigators in Hong Kong have raided the home of Wong Tung Ching, a senior executive Guotai Junan International Holdings, leading the firm to temporarily suspend trading in its shares. Trading resumed on 17 December.  

In a regulatory filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited said that on 15 December, officers of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong, or ICAC, entered Wong’s residential premises to execute a search warrant.

The statement from the firm said Wong was invited to visit the ICAC to assist in an ICAC investigation.

Separately, the ICAC carried out another search of the firm’s offices in Hong Kong’s Queen’s Road Central. The ICAC did not visit other premises of the company, Guotai Junan said in the filing.

The search relates to alleged bribery offences, the statement continued.

“The board believes that, as at the date hereof, the ICAC investigation will not have any material adverse effect to the group and the business and operations of the group remain normal. Save as disclosed above, the board is not aware of any other unpublished price-sensitive information that should be disclosed under the prevailing laws,” it added.

A report by Bloomberg said the company’s shares fell to a two-week low after the disclosure of the probe, which comes as parent company Guotai Junan Securities, one of the nation’s largest brokerages, seeks regulatory permission to be listed in an IPO on the Chinese mainland.