Media reports said that Founder Securities and parent firm gave no details on the investigation, including the authorities involved, and both declined to comment beyond brief statements to the effect that the executives had been called in.

Last Friday, Founder Securities reportedly said a court had frozen Y1.77 billion ($285 million) in its bank accounts, in connection with a dispute with Beijing Zenith Holding, its second-largest shareholder.

Beijing Zenith has accused senior executives of Founder Group of embezzling tens of billions of renminbi, media reports said. Founder Group, whose securities unit is separately suing a company bought from Beijing Zenith, has declined to comment. There was no reference to the matter on the Founder Group website that this publication was able to track down.

Hong Kong-based officials at , Founder Securities' partner in loss-making Credit Suisse Founder Securities Co, declined to comment on the matter, reports said. Credit Suisse also declined to comment to WealthBriefingAsia.