China's market regulator vowed to press ahead with a probe into "intermediary agencies" involved in an alleged fraud by China Evergrande Group.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission on Friday formally announced it will impose a 4.18 billion yuan ($577 million) fine on Evergrande's onshore unit Hengda. The regulator cited the unit's fraudulent bond issuance and violations on information disclosures, according to a statement.
Evergrande revealed the fine in March, after the unit was found to have inflated sales by $78 billion over 2019-2020.
The penalty is almost equal to 20% of the funds Hengda raised through the bond sale and includes fines for fake reporting and insufficient disclosures.
The watchdog pledged to crack down on financial fraud in the securities market and make sure its oversight has "teeth."
That echoes an instruction President Xi Jinping gave party cadres at a Politburo meeting this week, as authorities increase focus on tackling financial risks and crime to stabilize the world's second largest economy.
Authorities are also poised to impose a fine of at least 1 billion yuan on PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which acted as an auditor for Evergrande, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.
The Ministry of Finance may announce the penalties on PwC as soon as this week, people familiar said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
