China has released five staff of the reasonable American diligence company Mintz Group, two years after their detention as part of a repression of consulting firms working with foreign companies.
Their detention in March 2023 came at a time of increased suspicion of foreign espionage in China and launched a wave of raids on consulting firms such as Bain & Company and Capvision Partners.
“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be at home with their families,” the Mintz group said in a statement.
Their release arrives at the end of a Beijing commercial forum in Beijing assisted by dozens of best foreign executives, including Tim Cook from Apple and Albert Bourla de Pfizer.
China has tried to revive foreign investments in its slow economy. Government data published in February have shown that foreign direct investments have plunged 99% in the past three years.
On Sunday, during the forum, the Deputy Prime Minister, He Lifeng, overthrew the business leaders of the “unlocked” commitment of the country in “the reception of multinational companies and the sharing of development opportunities (with them)”.
Mintz Group noted that the five released employees are Chinese nationals.
They were arrested by the Chinese public security office after a descent from the company’s Beijing office in March 2023.
Mintz Group said at that time that he had received no official legal advice on the raid.
Chinese authorities did not comment on detentions and subsequent release.
Later in 2023, the Mintz group was sentenced to a fine of 1.5 million dollars for having carried out “unsuccessful statistical work”. At the time, the company had closed all its offices in continental China and Hong Kong.
The Reuters News Agency had reported on the participation of the company to examine the possible use of forced labor in supply chains linked to the Xinjiang region in China.
