CITIC Resources has filed a lawsuit against Qingdao Port International, seeking US$108 million in compensation if its fails to deliver base metals retained by the authorities as part of a fraud investigation.

The port operator said in a Hong Kong stock exchange announcement that, together with its parent company, it has received a writ of summons from Qingdao Maritime Court.

Qingdao Port quoted a litigation document saying that Citic Resources suffered loss from an inability to dispose of 223,270 tonnes of aluminium and 5,004 tonnes of copper because the port refuses to deliver the metals.

HSBC and ABN Amro Bank sued Chen Jihong, the Singapore national detained on the mainland and said to be at the centre of a probe over whether metals were pledged multiple times as collateral for different loan agreements.

HSBC asked Singapore's High Court this month to liquidate Mr Chen's Zhong Jun Resources after it failed to repay $4.3 million. ABN Amro won an order for Mr Chen to pay it $22 million owed under a loan agreement with Zhong Jun.

Mr Chen is the focus of a Chinese probe into alleged fraud at Qingdao port, two bankers assisting with the investigation said last month. Citic Resources declined to comment.

Qingdao port lawyer Yu Shengping told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that all parties would have to wait for the result of the criminal investigation before there could be any meaningful progress in the civil action.

"This incident has brought damage to the reputation of Qingdao Port. We are also victims," said Mr Yu.

The court will hold its first hearing on September 9.

Commodity financing is increasing with borrowings being backed by metal holdings or agricultural produce in warehouses. But lenders worry that the individual warehouse holdings are being used to back several loans at once.

Earlier this month, Standard Chartered filed a lawsuit to gain control of metal stocks in mainland warehouses.

Citic did not name the defendant when it announced it was taking court action against the operator of a bonded warehouse at the port. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is subsidiary Citic Australia Commodity Trading.