Global Solar Fund (GSF), an investment fund controlled by Suntech, has been accused of building ‘illegal’ solar plants in order to exploit the country's subsidies.
Reuters reports that an Italian court has filed criminal charges against the fund, which could be forced to dismantle 80 million euros' worth of solar projects in Italy. GSF is accused of sidestepping project approval processes by filing large solar farms as several individual 1 MW projects.
GSF already had a history of legal trouble: Last month, Suntech announced an investigation into an allegedly fraudulent 560 million euro bond that GSF provided to Suntech. Suntech subsequently froze the worldwide assets of GSF Capital and its manager Javier Romero. Meanwhile, Suntech's own shareholders filed several lawsuits against the company, claiming that its executives made false and misleading statements.
The problems have taken their toll on Suntech's financial standing; the company has lost more than 40% of its market value since July 30, according to Reuters.
