Another Lawsuit Fuels Qingdao Port Scandal

China’s Qingdao port is sinking further under a pile of lawsuit cases over an ongoing metals financing fraud that has resulted in over USD 1 billion of claims.

The latest developments have seen Shanxi Coal International file a lawsuit against the Australian trading arm of China’s Citic Resources Holding Ltd for $89.8m plus interest and costs for breach of contract for failure to deliver a cargo of aluminium, a Hong Kong stock exchange filling reads.

The company said that it has also launched action against Qingdao Port Group and asked for arbitration with units of Sinosteel for failing to deliver metal, claiming additional USD 41.9 million.

Shanxi Coal announced a lawsuit against Decheng and linked companies in June claiming more than USD 177 million in outstanding payments.

China’s largest bank Industrial and Commercial Bank suffered a loss of less than USD 200 million as a result of the suspected fraud at China’s Qingdao Port, writes Reuters.

Other banks and  trading firms affected by the scandal include CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd and Mercuria Energy Trading SA.

Decheng Mining a private metals trading firm, and related companies were put under investigation by the Chinese authorities in May under suspicion that the said parties had used fake warehouse receipts at Qingdao Port to obtain multiple loans secured against a single cargo of metal.