(Yicai) Jan. 8 -- Shares in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group plunged as much as 22 percent today after the electric car unit of struggling property giant China Evergrande Group said that its executive director has been put under police detention.

Evergrande NEV’s share price [HKG: 0708] closed down 6 percent at HKD0.39 (USD0.05) apiece today after diving 22 percent this afternoon to HKD0.32.

Liu Yongzhuo has been subject to “mandatory measures” on suspicion of committing certain crimes, the Shenzhen-based company said today. No details of the alleged crimes were given.

Liu, who has worked at Evergrande for 20 years, has served as executive director, vice chairman and president of the car-making subsidiary since 2020 when the developer said it would start producing autos. Prior to that he was chairman of the group’s professional soccer club from 2010 to 2017 and led the team to victory in the Chinese Football Association Super League seven times.

His detention follows the taking into custody of Evergrande’s Chairman Xu Jiayin in September last year for allegedly committing certain crimes. And several former executives, including Pan Darong, an ex-chief financial officer, and Ke Peng, a former executive president, were also previously under police investigation.

With spiralling debt, Evergrande NEV was forced to halt production in April last year when it ran out of funds. It has only manufactured just over 1,000 units of its first model, the Hengchi 5, since it was unveiled in October 2022. Between 2020 and 2022, the company has racked up losses of CNY91.7 billion (USD12.8 billion).

To make matters worse, last October, Evergrande NEV said that a plan to sell USD500 million of new shares to an Abu Dhabi investment fund had been shelved, as the two parties had failed to reach an agreement.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor