The chairman of China Telecom Corp. has been detained over “severe disciplinary violations”, according to a short statement posted Sunday by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
Chang Xiaobing became the chairman of China’s third largest mobile operator in August. He had previously served as chairman of the second largest operator, China Unicom, according to the CCDI.
Mr Chang, 58, is the latest in a series of senior figures that have been targeted as part of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption within the Communist Party and state owned enterprises.
On Sunday evening a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange noted that there would be no changes to the day-to-day operations of China Telecom, and that more information would be released as the situation develops.
Neither the company or CCDI have released further information on Mr. Chang’s detainment. An annual meeting scheduled for China Telecom executives today has been postponed, according to an internal notice cited by Caijing magazine.
It follows the corruption related arrest of the former chairman of China National Petroleum Corp, Jiang Jiemin, in October. The anticorruption campaign has been a central feature of Xi Jinping’s three-year tenure.
