Six seniors of the Chinese well-known fridge maker Kelon were detained Monday by the public security bureau of Foshan City, south China's Guangdong Province.

At the same time, the company, Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings Co. was suspended from trading stock.

The six, who are suspected for "economic crime" are Kelon board chairman Gu Chujun, Deputy Chief Executive Yan Yousong, Financial Superintendent Jiang Baojun, Deputy Chief Financial Official Yan Guoru, Financial Resource Department Vice Director Liu Ke and Zhang Xihan, a senior of Shenzhen Greencool Co. Ltd., the largest share holder of Kelon, said the source with Foshan public security bureau.

Early reports said the provincial public security department of Guangdong only ordered to detain three top leaders of the company including Gu, Yan and Assistant to the Chief Executive Jiang Yuan.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission started to probe Kelon in May, and ended the investigation on July 20, though the result was not made open to the public.

A 60-million-yuan (US$7.4 million) deficit in the Kelon 2004 annual report, contrasting blatantly with the 200 million yuan (US$25 million) in profit in the first three quarters, had caught public attention.

On July 8, a Kelon report said that the company received the resignation of its three independent directors, who claimed that they were forced to submit resignations because they couldn't fulfill their obligations due to various limits. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2005)