Japan's Daiwa House suspects massive $211 million embezzlement at Chinese joint venture

OSAKA - Home builder Daiwa House Industry Co. said Wednesday it suspects 1.42 billion yuan ($211 million) may have been embezzled by three employees at its joint venture in China.

The suspected embezzlement at the housing development firm, Dalian Dahezhongsheng Estate Co., by two executives and an accounting staffer surfaced after a different employee reported Tuesday that the amount of the company’s funds in the bank and that logged in its books did not match, Daiwa House said.

The three employees could not be reached, and the joint company in the northeastern port city of Dalian is preparing to file a criminal complaint, Daiwa House said. The two executives sent from a joint venture partner in Dalian and the accounting staffer are related, according to Daiwa House.

The home builder said it will book half of the missing money as a loss if the company fails to collect it.

Daiwa House suspects the missing money was transferred using internet banking from around 2015.

Daiwa House has been considering dissolving the company in Dalian after the joint venture partner sold a property developed with Daiwa House without giving any notice last summer, according to officials of the firm.

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