Chinese casino tycoon 'missing' as stocks plunge

HONG KONG (AFP) - Shares in an Asian casino operator plunged in Hong Kong yesterday as it said its tycoon head had gone missing, the latest setback for the firm after a project in Manila had been stopped.

Landing International Development said in a filing to the Hong Kong exchange Thursday that chairman Yang Zhihui could not be found, hours after its share price lost about 35 percent and was then suspended.

When trading restarted early yesterday it dived another 16.22 percent to end at HK$3.15.

Mainland news site Caixin reported Friday that Yang was being investigated by Chinese authorities probing his ties with the head of state-controlled Huarong Asset Management and had been detained in Cambodia.China's anti-corruption agency announced in April that Huarong chairman, Lai Xiaomin, was under investigation for suspected graft. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping launched an anti-graft campaign in 2012, after took the reins of the Communist Party, and has snared errant party officials as well as corporate executives.

Some of the country's top businesspeople have come under heightened scrutiny from authorities who have moved aggressively to prevent heavily indebted large private companies from collapsing and triggering a financial crisis.

Financier Xiao Jianhua vanished from his Hong Kong apartment last year and reports suggest he was abducted by mainland security agents. He was believed to be under investigation in connection with China's 2015 stocks crash.