Belgian investor sues PetroChina in US court

PetroChina Co will fight a lawsuit filed by an investor who claims the oil producer violated US securities laws by failing to disclose corruption that exposed it to government investigations and penalties.

The company said in a statement late on Tuesday that it had received the complaint, which didn’t specify damages.

Bloomberg reported that Johan Broux, an investor in Belgium, filed the complaint on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court seeking to represent all buyers of PetroChina securities from April 26, 2012, to Aug 27, 2013.

Broux said shares of PetroChina dropped more than 3.5 percent on Aug 28 on news that two Chinese government agencies were investigating company officials on allegations of corruption, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to PetroChina, the complaint names as defendants Chairman and President Zhou Jiping, Chief Financial Officer Yu Yibo and two former company executives — ex-CFO Zhou Mingchun and former chairman and CEO Jiang Jiemin.