China expands telecom industry probe: state media

BEIJING: China has expanded a corruption probe into the country's three major telecom operators, forcing mid-level executives and above to surrender their passports, state media has reported.

The ruling Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has sent investigators to China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom after several top executives at China Mobile were found taking bribes, the Caixin news website said Friday.

The Economy and Nation Weekly said Monday that 60 people, including government officials and telecom employees, were being targeted in the investigation, which is expected to last until June.

AFP calls to China Mobile went unanswered Tuesday while China Telecom and China Unicom both declined to comment on the reports.

Earlier this month, Ma Li, deputy general manager of China Mobile's data department, was detained on suspicion of "seriously violating discipline", the Global Times said Tuesday.

Li Xiangdong, another executive at the world's biggest mobile operator, was taken away early last year after going missing with hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions dollars), state media reported previously.

In another case, the former vice-chairman and executive director of China Mobile, Zhang Chunjiang, was sacked in September 2010 after he "gravely violated discipline" and abused his position by taking bribes, Caixin said.

President Hu Jintao and other top leaders have repeatedly called endemic corruption in China a threat to the Communist Party's legitimacy and pledged to stamp out the illegal behaviour.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011