(Yicai) Aug. 6 -- China Evergrande Group, a property developer in the liquidation process, has sued its chairman, six other individuals and entities to recover a total of about USD6 billion worth of dividends and remuneration.

Evergrande's liquidators started legal proceedings in the High Court of Hong Kong against Chairman Hui Ka Yan and his spouse or former spouse Ding Yumei, former Chief Executive Officer Xia Haijun, former Chief Financial Officer Pan Darong, and three more entities associated with Hui and Ding, the Shenzhen-based firm announced yesterday.

With the lawsuit, Evergrande seeks to "recover from the seven defendants dividends and remuneration in an aggregate amount of about USD6 billion paid by the company on the basis of allegedly misstated financial statements for each of the financial years ended Dec. 31, 2107, to Dec. 31, 2020," it noted.

The lawsuit's legal procedures are underway, but there are uncertainties as to whether Evergrande can win the lawsuit and ultimately recover the USD6 billion, the firm pointed out.

Last September, Evergrande announced it received a notification from relevant authorities that Hui had been subject to mandatory measures in accordance with the law due to suspicion of illegal crimes. It also informed investors that its shares [HKG: 3333] had suspended trading on Sept. 28.

In yesterday's statement, Evergrande noted that its stock trading will remain suspended until further notice.

Evergrande announced on Jan. 29 that it was ordered to be wound up by the High Court of Hong Kong. Edward Simon Middleton and Wing Sze Tiffany Wong from management consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal Asia were appointed as joint and several liquidators.

On March 18, Evergrande's unit Evergrande Real Estate Group announced it had been administratively punished by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for allegedly releasing false financial information in its 2019 and 2020 earnings reports.

Evergrande used PricewaterhouseCoopers as its auditor for 14 years between 2009 and January last year, when the pair broke their partnership. Meanwhile, PwC issued unqualified opinions on Evergrande's annual reports from 2009 to 2020.

Evergrande NEV

Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group, Evergrande's electric vehicle arm, also released an exchange filing yesterday.

In the statement, Evergrande NEV explained that the relevant local people's court ruled in a hearing related to the bankruptcy and reorganization of its subsidiaries Evergrande NEV Guangdong and Evergrande Intelligent Automobile Guangdong on Aug. 2 that the two units entered into bankruptcy and reorganization proceedings.

Evergrande NEV announced on July 26 that creditors of Evergrande NEV Guangdong and Evergrande Intelligent Automobile Guangdong filed to a local court for their bankruptcy reorganization on July 25.

Evergrande NEV's net loss narrowed 56 percent to CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion) last year from the previous one, according to the company's latest annual earnings report. Revenue surged 10-fold to CNY1.3 billion (USD181.8 million) in the period, thanks to rising car and property sales.

As of the end of last year, Evergrande NEV had delivered over 1,300 cars.

Editor: Futura Costaglione