Chinese authorities have raided the office of a US firm in Beijing, shutting down its operations and detaining five Chinese staff, the company has said.
Mintz Group, which has offices in 18 cities around the world and offers corporate analysis and due diligence services, said it received no legal notice about the reasons for the unannounced raid.
“We can confirm that Chinese authorities have detained the five staff in Mintz Group’s Beijing office, all of them Chinese nationals, and have closed our operations there,” the company said in a statement on Friday, according to Reuters.
“Mintz Group received no advance notice of the actions taken in Beijing this week, nor has the company received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company. We are confident that we and our employees have done nothing wrong.”
The company said it was ready to work with Chinese authorities to “resolve any misunderstanding that may have led to these events”, and that its top concern was the safety and wellbeing of colleagues in China.
Reuters had earlier reported the raid was carried out on 20 March and that the employees were being held outside Beijing and were uncontactable, citing an anonymous source at the company.
Mintz group offers corporate due diligence checks, corruption investigations, background checks and asset tracing for its clients. The company does not disclose its clients, but media reporting shared on its website reveals it has done work for the US National Football League, the Beatles, New York City and US state government investigative committees.
Western due diligence companies have gotten into trouble with Chinese authorities before. British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife, Yu Yingzeng, who ran risk consultancy ChinaWhys, were detained in 2013 after work they did for British pharmaceuticals giant GSK.
News of the raid and detentions comes as Beijing is gearing up to hold the three-day China development forum from Saturday, at which executives from multinationals and representatives from international organisations will be among more than 100 delegates from overseas.
A US business person who did not wish to be identified told Reuters that the Mintz Group incident sent a “remarkable signal” that Beijing wanted foreign money and technology but would not accept credible US firms conducting due diligence on Chinese partners or the business environment.
“Red alerts should be going off in all boardrooms right now about risks in China.”
Reuters contributed to this report
