Wangzhou Group chairman Yang Weiguo, who was reportedly missing, has denied all accusations made to him in regards to a huge amount of money missing from his company, news reports say.

Last week, Yang was reported by his own company as missing and taking with him the lump sum of 1 billion yuan ($153 million USD), reports CRIEnglish. In a statement, Wangzhou Group, parent company of Wangzhou Fortune, confirmed that Yang had “gone missing,” and is “believed to have taken” the amount of money. It added that the incident was not expected, and that it happened suddenly.

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Wangzhou Fortune’s investors have been reporting cashflow problems that were happening in the company since April 18. More than 20,000 people have invested more than 2.2 billion yuan (about $338.7 million USD) across the dozens of branches that Wangzhou has in China.

Wangzhou has issued a public apology, and said that they have reported the incident to authorities. Both media and police have been looking for Yang since then.

Yang, for his part, revealed through a short video that he sent to journalists on Monday that he went on a short personal trip, reports BBC. He said that he is coming back shortly, and rejected all accusations against him.

In a letter, Yang said that on April 15, he went on a 10-day trip to Xinjiang province so that he could relax and think clearly as to how he will solve the company’s current problems. Although he admitted that he was at fault for not telling the whole company of his travel plans, he said that he was able to notify two of his employees.

Yang added that he was stunned to find that he was accused of stealing the money Sunday, only as he was preparing to return home. He said he will cooperate with investigations.

TagsWangzhou Fortune, Wangzhou Group, Yang Weiguo, money, Fraud