The Party chief and president of China Telecom is being investigated for possible "serious violations of discipline", the euphemism for graft, the top anti-corruption authority said yesterday.
The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection did not elaborate, but financial news website caixin.com said Chang Xiaobing, 58, was taken in for questioning on Saturday and could not be reached by telephone since then.
The website quoted several unnamed “insiders” from China Telecom — one of the country’s top three telecom firms — and claimed it has canceled its annual conference, which was scheduled to open today in Beijing.
“It’s a very important annual meeting and all directors of provincial branches have to attend, as well as some leaders from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,” a middle-level executive was quoted as saying, on condition of anonymity.
“The corporation issued notice of the cancelation without giving a detailed reason. So we all guessed that something serious might have happened,” the person said.
Two other sources claimed the investigation might be related to Chang’s time at China Unicom, the Caixin report said.
Chang had since 2004 been employed as chairman of China Unicom, before moving to China Telecom in August.
The position he left was filled by Wang Xiaochu, the former president of China Telecom.
An inspection group was stationed at China Unicom for a month late last year. In February of this year, it released its feedback, which included several problems related to the company’s management team.
Soon after, a vice general manager of the company’s network business branch and a manager of its e-commerce department were charged with violating Party discipline and the law.
Both had earlier been promoted by Chang, Caixin quoted its sources at China Unicom as saying.
The report said that executives and staff in key positions had abused their positions by colluding with contractors and suppliers in return for financial and other favors for themselves, their families and other contacts.
The company was also criticized for overspending on cars and offices and giving promotions to people deemed unworthy.
The inspectors said also that they had found evidence of “problems” involving the company’s senior executives and had passed this on to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Born in north China’s Hebei Province, Chang has worked in the telecoms industry for most of his professional career after graduating from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He is also a deputy to the National People’s Congress.
