A post saying that an executive of The Walt Disney Co (China) defaced the yuan by having his portrait printed on banknotes handed out at his birthday party went viral on Weibo, China's twitter-like social media platform, on Wednesday.
On Monday, a Weibo user named Yangguang 53358 said on his account that Allen Au-Yeung, vice president of Product Creative, The Walt Disney Company Greater China, printed his portrait on banknotes at his birthday party last Thursday in an office in Shanghai, the Xinmin Weekly reported on Tuesday.
The post was available for view as of press time on Wednesday.
The user also posted several photos, showing Au-Yeung's portrait on notes worth 100 yuan ($15.5) and 10 yuan.
An email inquiry by the Global Times to the Walt Disney Co for comment went unanswered as of press time on Wednesday.
Behavior that damages or defaces Chinese banknotes is punishable by warnings and fines that range from 1,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, assuming that there are no illegal gains, according to China's regulation on the administration of the yuan.
"Banknotes must not be defaced for any reason, and this violates Chinese laws. If the case is true, relevant departments can pursue legal action," Dong Dengxin, director of the Financial Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
