The allegations came from unknown short seller Jonestown Research, which Winsway said may not be a “reputable” outfit.

Chief financial officer Jerry Xie told investors in a conference call Thursday the company has “disclosed exactly how many tons of coal” it purchased.

“Winsway is absolutely not a fraud. This report is dead wrong,” he said.

The Jonestown Research report was published on the web site InvestDOOR, but no information on the authors or the origin was provided. The firm also does not appear to have an online presence.

Late Thursday afternoon, amid speculation that Winsway’s buyout plans for the producer would be in jeopardy, Grande Cache responded to the claims as well. It confirmed it had “no reason to believe” that the claims made by the short seller had merit and that the purchase transaction between it and Winsway – which is completing the deal with Japanese partner Marubeni –would continue.

Officials also held fast to the companies’ timeline for completion of the transaction sometime next month.

Accounting standard inquiries for Chinese companies is a trend that has emerged in the past year; according to Bloomberg short seller Carson Block's Muddy Waters said in June that Sino-Forest overstated cash and assets, and other short sellers have targeted Chaoda Modern Agriculture Holdings and software company Longtop Financial Technologies.

One Hong Kong analyst, Mirae Assets Securities’ Shirley Zhao, told the news service that its confidence in Winsway remains.

“We believe the management has provided reasonable explanations to handle the fraud accusation this time,” she said.