BEIJING: Accountancy giant PwC was banned in China Friday for six months and slapped with a fine of $62.2 million over problems with its audit of beleaguered property company Evergrande.

The moves by Chinese regulators mark the latest development in a crackdown on PwC for its work with Evergrande, which has become emblematic of a protracted debt crisis in the country’s real estate sector.

In the Friday announcements, regulators hammered PwC for its failure to identify and bring attention to severe financial problems within Evergrande — once China’s biggest real estate firm — ahead of its default in 2021.

“After investigation, it was found that PricewaterhouseCoopers and its Guangzhou branch knew that there were major misstatements in Evergrande Real Estate’s financial statements during the audit,” China’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

The Ministry added it had imposed administrative penalties on PwC that included the “suspension of its business for six months and the revocation of its Guangzhou branch”.