Evergrande liquidators challenge watchdog’s HK$1 billion settlement with auditor PwC

Hong Kong’s securities market regulator has defended a HK$1 billion (US$128 million) settlement with an accounting firm at the centre of an auditing scandal involving developer China Evergrande Group, saying it has unfettered powers to enforce discipline and a duty to protect the interests of independent investors. In a judicial review hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) asked the High Court to dismiss a challenge by the developer’s liquidators, who…