HONG KONG (AP) 鈥� Liquidators of the failed Chinese property developer China Evergrande are seeking 57 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) from accounting firm PwC over its auditing work, a Hong Kong court heard on Monday.
The hefty amount was claimed against PwC International, PwC Hong Kong and PwC鈥檚 mainland Chinese entity, the court was told. A court decision has not yet been made on the claims.
, once one of China鈥檚 largest real estate developers, first defaulted in 2021, and with more than $300 billion in liabilities became the world鈥檚 most indebted developer.
Its downfall triggered a liquidity crunch in China’s property sector, which faced a slump in sales and prices and still has not fully recovered.
After a Hong Kong judge China Evergrande鈥檚 liquidation in early 2024, its court-appointed liquidators launched legal proceedings against PwC over alleged 鈥渘egligence鈥� in its work for Evergrande as they attempted to recover what they could for creditors.
Last month, Hong Kong regulators said PwC HK$1.3 billion ($166 million) in fines and compensation over its role in auditing Evergrande鈥檚 financial statements before its collapse, as they said there were breaches of professional duties by PwC.
PwC said last month that they acknowledged the work on the Evergrande audits 鈥渇ell well below our high expectations and the expectations of our stakeholders鈥� and that it had taken 鈥渁ccountability and remediation measures鈥� over the past months.
That came after mainland Chinese authorities in September 2024 PwC 441 million yuan ($62 million) over its Evergrande audits, and said the Chinese developer had inflated its revenues by roughly $80 billion in its 2019 and 2020 financial results.
Evergrande founder , once one of Asia鈥檚 richest people, in April pleaded guilty to charges in mainland China .
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