Shanghai-listed Hangxiao Steel released "improperly timed, inaccurate and incomplete" information regarding a housing contract in Angola to bump up its share price, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced on Friday.

Hangxiao Steel said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange in February that it was in talks with an Angolan company regarding a 30-billion-yuan housing project.

The contract that Hangxiao claimed was on the verge of being signed aroused suspicion in the steel sector, where experts said the deal involving 3.3 million tons of steel products seemed suspicious given the Zhejiang-based firm was said to have produced only 300,000 tons of steel structures in 2006.

"Some people are suspected of having committed a crime in this incident," said an unnamed official with the commission.

"We have transferred evidence to the public security department for possible prosecution by the judicial department," he said.

The CSRC did not actually specify the inaccuracies of the Hangxiao's alleged contract.

Hangxiao's stock trading was banned for 10 trading days on March 19 after it was accused of rigging stock prices with a bogus contract announcement. Its shares surged by the daily allowable limit of 10 percent for 10 straight days ending March 16, when it closed at 10.75 yuan.

The CSRC launched the investigation into the Hangxiao Steel Structure amid wide-spread dispute the unusual market activity and said on March 22 that it would firmly punish anyone who has broken the law.

The company issued a statement on March 26 warning investors of possible risks as the contract might be terminated at any time if its partner failed to pay or other uncontrollable events like natural disasters, government policy changes and violence disrupted the projects.

Trading of Hangxiao's stocks were again halted by the commission on the third day after it was resumed on April 2, during which a period of feverish trading had driven its share price to another high of 13.97 yuan.

The CSRC said it would punish Hangxiao Steel Structure for violating rules, without elaborating.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)