SHENZHEN police are investigating an online financing and loaning company that has faced media reports that it raised funds from the public illegally, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Friday.

    Media reports said the police raided the branch office of ezubo.com in Bao’an District on Thursday, with over 40 staff members being detained, as the website allegedly has raised funds and self-financed illegally.

    The company later said that those being taken away by police are staff members of its Shenzhen agent, and they were assisting a routine investigation. The company also issued legal notices to three media outlets, accusing them of publishing false information.

    The police have released the company’s staff, but the investigation continues, according to the Daily’s report.

    Ezubo.com is a financing and loaning website developed by the Yucheng Group, headquartered in Beijing. The website was launched in October last year, with registered capital of up to 100 million yuan (US$15.55 million) and commercials airing during primetime on China Central Television.

    The cumulative turnover on the website reached 8 billion yuan June 23, and the turnover soared by 8 times to 72.8 billion yuan as of Thursday, the Daily report said.

    Statistics from a local consultant agency showed 309 companies placed borrowing offers on the website, but 292 of the companies changed their registered capital before they started getting loans from users.

    These companies’ average registered capital was 1.54 million yuan before borrowing from the users of the website, but the average was changed to 27.14 million yuan in the 33 days after they released borrowing offers.

    Other media reports said the website never revealed the health of its financing projects to the public. The company hasn’t commented on the issue yet.

    (Zhang Yang)