On the 12th of September, the company announced in a press release that Minghong Wu, COO of Ultrasonic AG, was due to take a six months leave of absence resulting from ongoing health problems, with CEO Qinyong Wu taking over responsability for the operational duties. At the time it was also communicated to the public that CFO Chi Kwong Clifford Chan was due to step down for family related reasons by the end of the current month.

In the following week, rumours started and several media agencies reported that CEO Qingyong Wu and COO Minghong Wu were unreachable and that their whereabouts were unknown. At the time it was also made public that most of the company’s cash in Hong Kong and China had been transferred from its accounts and was “no longer in the company’s range of influence.”

“However, the German holding company has a relevant six-figure amount in command so that the company currently is able to meet its payment obligations as normal,” Ultrasonic said at the time. “Mr. Chan and the supervisory board are in talks with authorities and business partners, trying to gather further information to clarify the situation.”

This disappearance followed a relevant event occurred in August, when Ultrasonic managed to secure a 60 million US dollars credit facility from Nomura International Hong Kong Ltd to fund growth.

Now, two weeks after the disappearance has been reported, in a video interview posted late Sunday CEO Qingyong Wu said he had been in Manila to seek medical treatment when the company said that it dismissed him and that millions of dollars were missing. Mr. Wu is being quoted as having said that he would return to the company and that he would also return the funds. At the same time he is being quoted as having stated that rumors that he took money were "totally nonsense and that he didn't intend to run away at all." Contradiction surrounds such statements and it is still unclear what really happened.

By the end of May Ultrasonic announced group sales increasing by 5.0% to 35.4 million euros during quarter one. Revenue from the Ultrasonic brand rose 49.5% year-on-year to 11.1 million euros and net profit amounted to 7.1 million euros.