China investigates executive at state-owned firm: official

BEIJING - An executive at a Chinese state-owned insurance firm is under investigation, the top anti-corruption body said on Sunday, widening a high-profile crackdown on graft.

Dai Chunning, a deputy general manager at China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, "is suspected of serious discipline violations and currently under investigation", the Commission for Discipline Inspection said on its website.

The commission, a branch of the ruling Communist Party, is overseeing a widely publicised clampdown on official corruption unveiled over the past year by new leaders under President and party chief Xi Jinping.

Soon after taking power Xi warned that rampant corruption could destroy the party and vowed to nab both high-ranking "tigers" and low-level "flies".

A smattering of senior government figures and a series of low-ranking officials have since come under investigation.

But no system-wide reforms have been introduced, and activists calling for officials to disclose their assets have faced detention - fuelling speculation the drive is more of a political campaign than a comprehensive cleanup.

China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, also known as Sinosure, focuses on insurance for foreign trade.

In 2009 the head of the company at the time, Tang Ruoxin, was sacked amid allegations that he accepted huge bribes and caused hefty losses of state