Court case looms over Naibu’s missing bosses

The non-executive directors of a Chinese sportswear company, whose founder and production boss both vanished along with £150 million, are weighing a lawsuit against the City advisers who floated the firm on AIM.

Giles Elliott, the former boss of stockbroker Bridgewell, David Thomas and Stephen Cheung said they were considering legal action in the UK against “various professional advisers who were involved at the time of the flotation” of Naibu Global.

Embattled stockbroker Daniel Stewart, who led the controversial AIM floats of car crash Quindell and Rangers Football Club, also directed Naibu to London’s junior market in 2012. Crowe Clark Whitehall was the firm’s auditor.

Both waved through the company, directors and accounts as it listed on AIM.

Naibu’s shares were suspended in January 2015 pending clarification of its financial position, marking the start of an extraordinary tale as chairman and founder Lin Huoyan and Lin Congdeng, vice-president of production, vanished without a trace in one of AIM's biggest scandals.

It delisted shortly after its nominated adviser ZAI Corporate Finance quit. Daniel Stewart remained the company's other broker.

Today, the non-executive directors said they were still untraceable so have been removed as directors. They even suggested Huoyan had forged legal documents in China purporting to show he had gained control of the local subsidiary.

They will now obtain records and bank statements to ascertain where £150 million of shareholder funds, which “now appear to have been dissipated”, were spent as they pursue legal action in Hong Kong.

They said they would pass records on to Chinese police if they uncovered evidence of fraud.

Set up in 2002, Naibu claimed to be the 10th biggest sportswear brand in China, with nearly 3000 stores.