GUIYANG - Southwest China's Guizhou Province's discipline watchdog handed over a case concerning a Kweichow Maotai Group executive to judicial authorities, according to the watchdog's website on Thursday.

The local discipline watchdog said it had found evidence indicating that Maotai deputy general manager Fang Guoxing may have seriously violated discipline regulations.

Fang will face a criminal investigation but the website did not elaborate.

Maotai, distilled in the town of Maotai in Renhuai City, has been considered the country's top liquor brand and a status symbol for decades.

Fang had been at Maotai since January 2013 and was once the secretary of the Communist Party of China Renhuai City Committee.