BEIJING • Shanghai Fuxing Group's chairman has been arrested overseas and escorted back to China on suspicion of manipulating stocks and other economic crimes, according to the Shanghai police department.

Mr Zhu Yidong, 36, returned to China on Wednesday, the police said in a statement on their official social media account.

He had disappeared to unknown countries after Fuxing missed an estimated 18 billion yuan (S$3.6 billion) of payments to clients through private equity products from affiliated firms and itself, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.

The case highlights the determination of the Chinese authorities to stamp out financial wrongdoing, as they seek to cut risk from the economy and tamp down behaviour that could unsettle markets.

Last week, casino operator Landing International Development's chairman, Yang Zhihui, was arrested in Cambodia in relation to a corruption investigation, Caixin media group reported.

Securities regulators have levied billions of yuan in fines for market manipulation over the past year.

The authorities will check Fuxing's private fund assets and investor list to defuse risks, the Shanghai police said, without providing further details.

Fuxing and controlling shareholder Li Weiwei from a separate Beijing-based asset management company used 25 institutional accounts and 436 individual accounts to manipulate the price of Dalian Insulator Group, more than doubling the company's share price between June 2016 and March last year, according to a July statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Fuxing, which calls itself a conglomerate on its website, said it operates in multiple industries, including commercial real estate, asset management, finance and rare metals.

BLOOMBERG