Agricultural Bank of China employees accused of taking RMB3.8bn in scam

Police are investigating two employees at Agricultural Bank of China who allegedly ran a scam that lost the bank RMB3.9 billion (US$593.6 million), Caixin reported, citing unnamed sources and subsequently backed up by an exchange filing from the bank. The two were detained on suspicion of having stolen billions in bills of exchange from the bank, then selling them for cash that was then mostly used to buy stocks–much of which may have been wiped out during June’s stock market rout. A source close to the bank’s Beijing branch said investigators found the safe used to keep the stolen bills was filled with newspapers.