A widening anti-corruption campaign directed toward the mining sector is bringing down more high-ranking executives at state-owned enterprises. China’s largest gold producer Zhongjin Gold Corp. announced that its general manager Wang Ronghu has been detained by prosecutors.
The company’s chairman Wang Jinding will temporarily assume the general manager position, and business operations won’t be affected, Zhongjin said.
While the company didn’t provide details of Wang’s case, media reports said that he is linked to the detained former Zhongjin chairman Sun Zhaoxue. Sun nominated Wang for the general manager position in November 2012, reports said.
Sun, currently the general manager of state-owned metal producer Aluminum Corp. of China, was put under investigation for corruption two weeks ago. He previously headed the China National Gold Group Corp, the parent company of Zhongjin.
The investigation of Sun is likely to be related to overpriced acquisitions of gold mines during his time at the China Gold, sources said. Whistleblowers complained that Zhongjin overpaid for gold mine acquisitions, and that Wang acted as the legal representative of several mines, sources told China Times.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, China Economy Net (中国经济网), China Times (华夏诗报)
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Hui Zhi is the Senior Manager for Content with the China Compliance Digest, where a version of this post first appeared.
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