Beijing probes top official of China Resources unit

SHANGHAI - Chinese authorities are investigating the president of Hong Kong blue-chip stock China Resources Power, the company said, as a corruption probe into its state-owned parent expands.

Prosecutors in the eastern province of Jiangsu are investigating Wang Yujun, prompting him to be suspended from his post, the company said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

It gave no reason for the investigation.

State media said in April that authorities had removed the chairman of the firm's parent conglomerate China Resources, Song Lin, for "serious violations of discipline and law" which typically refers to corruption.

China Resources, a Fortune magazine Global 500 company in 2013, has five listed units in Hong Kong, with utility China Resources Power - a constituent of the benchmark Hang Seng Index - considered the flagship.

Company chair Zhou Junqing had assumed Wang's duties as president, said the statement, which insisted the issue would not affect its business operations.

Wang remains an executive director, it added.

State media also reported this week that police had detained the former audit director of China Resources, Huang Daoguo, for allegedly obtaining state secrets by providing Song with information from the National Audit Office.

A journalist with the Economic Information Daily newspaper has accused Song of accepting bribes, laundering money and keeping a mistress.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pursued a highly publicised anti-graft drive since taking office, vowing to go after both senior "tigers" and low-level "flies".

China Resources Power was down 0.84 per cent in Hong Kong trading near midday.