* Former CEO Allen Chan resigns from company
* CFO David Horsley resigns from exec job, to stay on
* Three other executives terminated
TORONTO, April 17 (Reuters) – Embattled Chinese forestry
company Sino-Forest Corp said on Tuesday its former CEO
had quit his final role at the company and three other
executives were fired after Canada’s top securities regulator
issued enforcement notices against them.
Sino-Forest said Allen Chan, who stepped down as chairman
and chief executive in August, had resigned from his position as
“founding chairman emeritus”.
Chief Financial Officer David Horsley also resigned from his
executive position, but will continue as an employee to assist
with restructuring, the company said.
Sino-Forest terminated three other executives that had been
placed on administrative leave in August.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) served some current
and former Sino Forest executives with enforcement notices
earlier this month, and notified the China-focused company it
had found that it had run afoul of sections of securities law
pertaining to fraud.
The regulator had launched a probe into Sino Forest after
short seller Carson Block and his firm Muddy Water accused the
company in June of exaggerating the size of its forestry assets.
The company’s internal investigation into the fraud
allegations proved inconclusive. Sino-Forest was granted
protection from its creditors after it argued that the
allegations against it had paralyzed its business.
The case is the most prominent among a spate of accounting
scandals that have tainted the image of Chinese companies listed
in North America. The accusations have prompted trading halts,
delistings, lawsuits and regulatory probes in both the United
States and Canada.
In light of the departures, the company said it will move to
give more powers to its court-appointed monitor, FTI Consulting
Canada Inc, under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
