Six suspects detained in Jiugui Liquor case

Six suspects alleged to have stolen 100 million yuan (16.5 million U.S. dollars) from a bank account belonging to Jiugui Liquor have been detained, police in central China's Hunan province said Thursday.

The suspects were caught in Hunan and Zhejiang provinces, said Ouyang Xu, police bureau chief in Xiangxi Tu Autonomous Prefecture.

Ouyang said the investigation is ongoing.

Jiugui Liquor Co., Ltd., based in Hunan, said on Tuesday that 100 million yuan had vanished from one of its bank accounts in east China's Zhejiang province in December.

The account was set up in the company's name on Nov. 29 at the Agriculture Bank of China in Hangzhou, provincial capital of Zhejiang, a Jiugui Liquor statement said. A total of 100 million yuan was deposited.

Over the course of three days from Dec. 11 to Dec. 13, a series of withdrawals were made leaving only 1,176 yuan in the account.

Jiugui's shares tumbled 4.41 percent to close at 11.91 yuan on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday following the company statement.

China's quality liquor makers have been frustrated by their performance on the stock market recently, partly due to the government limiting official spending on banquets.