China releases Mintz employees from detention after 2 years

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Chinese authorities have released five employees of US due diligence firm Mintz Group from detention, two years after Xi Jinping’s administration cracked down on consultancies working with foreign multinationals.

“We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” a spokesperson for the company told the Financial Times.

“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be home with their families,” they added.

The Mintz staff were detained by Beijing’s public security bureau following a raid on the company’s office in the Chinese capital in 2023, which alarmed foreign investors in the country.

The release comes as Xi is courting foreign business leaders to attract investment, as growth rates in the world’s second-biggest economy have slowed and US president Donald Trump increases US tariffs on Chinese exports.

The FT reported in late 2023 that between March 2019 and July 2022, the US firm had conducted 37 investigations involving “foreign-related statistics inquiries” without obtaining legally required approval, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

According to Mintz the group were released in stages, with the final detained staff released last week. They have not been charged with espionage or national security-related activities. However, they have not yet been formally acquitted of charges over engaging in business activities outside the scope of the company licence.

Mintz was also required to pay a fine of about $1.5mn levied separately by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

This is a developing story