Scandal probe: Senior officials held
(AP)
Updated: 2006-10-24 14:27 SHANGHAI -- Two senior
officials in charge of managing Shanghai's government-owned assets are under
investigation, the government said Tuesday, in a corruption scandal that has
already brought down the city's top leader and appears to be spreading.
Ling Baoheng, chief of Shanghai's State Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission, and Wu Hongmei, a vice director for the commission, were "assisting
in the investigation," said an official in the Shanghai city government, who
gave her surname as Zhang.
She would not comment further.
The two are among dozens of officials and businessmen reportedly implicated
in a scandal over alleged illicit investments of city pension and housing funds.
The commission oversees several major city projects targeted in the probe,
including Shanghai's Formula One auto racing track.
The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, citing unnamed government
officials, said police took Ling from his home late Sunday.
As head of the city's assets commission, Ling was involved in the
restructuring of several major state-owned corporations, including equipment
maker Shanghai Electric Group, whose chairman and other senior officials are
also under investigation.
Shanghai's Communist Party secretary, Chen Liangyu, was dismissed and also
expelled from the party's powerful Politburo last month in connection with the
scandal over alleged misuse of more than 3 billion yuan ($380 million) in
pension funds.
The government has announced only one arrest so far, that of tycoon Zhang
Rongkun, whose Fuxi Investment company was alleged to have used pension funds
for investments in toll roads and other projects.
The Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao, citing unnamed city officials, said
about 50 people have been taken in for questioning by Communist Party corruption
investigators so far.
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