Five Chinese employees at the Beijing office of US accounting firm Mintz Group have been arrested by Chinese authorities, the group said on Friday.
“Chinese authorities have arrested the five employees of Mintz Group’s Beijing office, all of Chinese nationality, and shut down our operations there,” the company said in a statement to AFP.
The company asserts that it has received “no official notice of legal proceedings” against it and “has asked the authorities to release its employees”.
She said she urged the lawyers “to engage in dialogue with the authorities and to help (their) employees and their families.”
“We have always worked transparently, ethically and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations in China,” the company said, adding that it will work with authorities to resolve “any misunderstandings that may have led to these events.” “.
chains on the doors
On Friday, AFP journalists found the Beijing premises empty and the doors locked with chains.
Police stations in the area refused to respond to AFP.
Headquartered in New York, Mintz Group is a company specializing in investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and workplace misconduct, as well as background checks.
It has 18 offices in total, including one in Washington. The Mintz Group states on its website that its employees “deep deep into the issues that concern our customers – from the presidential palace to the offshore oil platform”.
In 2017, the director of the group’s Asia office, Randal Phillips, believed that the United States should address the problems of structural imbalances caused by Chinese policies and trade disadvantages.
A Mintz Group website headlined “China Must Face the Consequences” with quotes from Mr. Phillips. It appears to have been removed, although archived versions are still available online.
Former CIA
According to US government documents, also available online, Randal Phillips testified ahead of the release of a US Congressional Committee report in 2018 that focused on Chinese attempts to expand its influence abroad.
The Mintz Group website describes Mr. Phillips as a former CIA employee, where he worked for 28 years, “ultimately as the CIA’s chief agent in China.”
The arrests come at a time when US-China relations are at their lowest in decades and the world’s two biggest powers are at odds on everything from trade to human rights.
Tensions escalated further in February when Washington shot down a suspected spy balloon, which Beijing continues to describe as a weather device.