Citic Pacific said in a recent statement that its board of directors is now being investigated by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Shanghai Securities News reported Monday.

In the statement, Citic Pacific said that all of its 17 directors, including Chairman Rong Zhijian, are undergoing SFC investigation for failing to reveal suspected irregularities in its foreign exchange trading.

Citic Pacific has come under sharp criticism after it emerged that the company failed to disclose foreign exchange losses for six weeks after its directors had become aware of the trades. On December 2, the company said its realized and potential losses from these foreign exchange trades had risen to HK$18.6 billion, up from the HK$15.5 billion it disclosed on October 20.

After the forex trading scandal, company chairman Rong Zhijian's personal wealth shrank from US$3 billion to around US$750 million, down by nearly 75 percent. Forbes magazine included Rong in its recent "Billionaire Blowups of 2008" list.

For more information, please read the full story in Chinese:

http://paper.cnstock.com/html/2009-01/05/content_66815151.htm

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei, January 5, 2009)