Police in Huizhou Municipal, Guangdong Province, China have applied for the official detainment of former NVC Lighting Chairman Changjiang Wu recently, according to a latest report from Chinese-language media East Money.com.

Wu was arrested in early December 2014 for suspected embezzlement of more than RMB 100 million (US $16.11 million) worth of company funds. Local police have submitted their application for his detainment to the Huizhou Municipal People’s Procuratorate. According to China’s regulations, the procuratorate will decide in the next seven days whether to approve the application, and carry out related investigations. Once the investigations are completed, the suspect will be sent to prosecutors for public trials.

The local procuratorate might consider delaying the approval of Wu’s detainment, since the case has received a lot of public attention, said a source.

Wu has been detained for more than a month already for suspected misappropriation of company funds.

The former NVC Lighting chairman might be spending 20 years in jail for misappropriating large sums of company funds, a JRJ.com report cited a NVC Lighting source familiar with the matter.

“Wu could have escaped abroad, but decided to come back,” said the source.

NVC Lighting’s internal conflict has also taken a toll on the current company President Wang Donglei, who has lost 20 kilograms due to stress. In the aftermath of the dramatic power struggle, Wu is still trying to win over distributors that were previously close with Wu, the source added.

Timeline of events leading to Wu’s arrest

Aug. 8, 2014- NVC Lighting announces the removes Wu from CEO position, and company board appoints ETI Chairman Wang as successor. The start of the company’s internal conflict.

Aug. 29, 2014-NVC Lighting board members hold an interim meeting in Hong Kong to vote on the removal of Wu from all company positions. More than 95% stockholders voted in favor of removing Wu from post.

Oct. 28, 2014-NVC Lighting announces Huizhou police are investigating Wu’s suspected involvement in embezzling company funds.

Nov. 14, 2014-NVC Lighting announces the company’s Chongqing arm’s RMB 53.85 million worth of savings was frozen by China Construction Bank, due to Wu’s illegal pledge of company assets to numerous banks to secure loans. Banks have compulsory deducted a total of RMB 549 million from Chongqing NVC Lighting savings because of these actions.

Dec. 16, 2014-Wu is arrested by Huizhou police for suspected misappropriation of company funds.

Dec. 17, 2014-NVC Lighting announces the company’s second largest shareholder Wu’s share in the company has been frozen by Chongqing High People’s Court. The court froze 130 million shares, or 9.31% of company shares for a duration of 24 months starting from Dec. 12, 2014.

Jan. 5, 2015- Various sources have affirmed Wu has been sent to Huizhou Municipal People’s Procuratorate, and police have filed for his official detainment for defrauding company funds.

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