Evergrande chairman under police watch

HONG KONG, Sept 27 (Reuters): The chairman of China Evergrande Group has been placed under police surveillance, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, raising more doubts about the embattled developer's future as it grapples with the mounting threat of liquidation.
Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the report said Hui Ka Yan, who founded Evergrande in 1996 in the southern city of Guangzhou, was taken away by police earlier this month and is being monitored at a designated location.
Evergrande is the world's most indebted developer with more than $300 billion in total liabilities and has been at the centre of an unprecedented liquidity crisis in China's property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the economy.
It was not clear why Hui was placed under residential surveillance, Bloom-berg News said, adding the move was a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest and does not mean Hui will be charged with a crime.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Evergrande, the police department in Guangdong province, whose capital is Guangzhou, and the public security ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A person close to Evergrande said Hui had stopped contacting staff over the past few days.
The reported action against Hui comes after police in southern China said earlier this month that they have detained some staff at Evergrande's wealth management unit, which raised funds from individual investors by selling investment products.