The chairman of Skyworth Digital Holdings Limited (Skyworth), a Hong Kong listed company, and his brother were released Thursday on 1 million HK dollars' (128,000 US dollars ) bail each.

The chairman, Wang Wang-sang, and his brother Wong Pui-sing, an executive director of the company, were charged by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for allegedly misappropriating 48 million HK dollars (US$6.2 million) company funds.

No pleas were taken Thursday and Magistrate Ian Candy adjourned the case until March 2, 2005.

The charge alleged the defendants of conspiring with another person to steal nine checks, totaling over 48 million HK dollars, drawn on the bank account of Skyworth, between Nov. 2000 and April 2003.

The defendants were also ordered to surrender all travel documents, not to leave Hong Kong, and not to interfere with prosecution witnesses.

The two men were arrested Tuesday by ICAC together with three board members and financial controllers. In all, 15 arrests were made in the ICAC operation dubbed "Determination."

According to a press release by ICAC, a former accountant was also accused of accepting bribes and falsifying accounts to assist the company's April 2000 listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The spokesman for ICAC told Xinhua that the other 13 people are released by ICAC on bail.

Skyworth is the third-largest television maker in the Chinese mainland. The company was scheduled to announce its financial results for the six months ending Sept. 30 on Tuesday, but later said it would postpone the announcement until further notice.

Skyworth's shares have been suspended from trading since Tuesday, pending clarification of "potential price sensitive information."

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2004)