Perhaps the stock ticker should have given the game away. TRE, better known as Sino-Forest, a Canadian-listed Chinese lumber company, is one “E” short of a full “TREE”. Muddy Waters, the research firm whose “strong sell” note precipitated a collapse of Sino-Forest’s shares, alleges it falls considerably shorter than that. It has accused the company of “stratospheric fraud”, saying that it overstated its forestry holdings in Yunnan province by $900m and sent revenues through a maze of intermediaries designed to fool auditors.
或许,股票报价系统已经泄露了天机。在加拿大上市的嘉汉林业(Sino Forest)股票代码为TRE——比“TREE”少了一个“E”。研究公司浑水(Muddy Waters)宣称,该公司少的可不止这一个“E”。这家公司的“强力卖出”建议,导致嘉汉林业股票暴跌。浑水指控嘉汉林业犯下了“天大的欺诈罪”,称它将其在云南省的林业资产多报了9亿美元,并通过设计得纷繁复杂、旨在欺骗审计人员的代理机构,将收入进行了转移。