They appeared in Eastern Magistrates' Courts on Wednesday afternoon, according to a government press release.

Among the five, two men, aged 53 and 51, were the company's chairman and deputy chairman.

In January 2001, through a series of bank transactions, the pair fraudulently generated a 100 million HK dollars(12.92 million U.S. dollars) loan from them to the subject company.

They then received the repayment of the said loans purportedly financed to the subject company, in 55 million HK dollars(7.11 million U.S. dollars) cash and 45 million HK dollars(5.81 millionU.S. dollars) worth of ordinary shares issued by the subject company.

Among the other arrestees, a 47-year-old man was a director of the subject company at the time while a 40-year-old man and 44-year-old woman were allegedly involved in the fund circulations.

The case was referred to the Commercial Crime Bureau in June 2003 and police officers arrested the five people in May last year. Enditem