China probes ex-party chief of Guangdong rural credit union over discipline violations

BEIJING (Reuters) – A former party chief of the rural credit union in China’s southern province of Guangdong has been placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of law and discipline, the Guangdong anti-graft regulator said on Sunday.

The regulator said Wang Shuoping had accepted the disciplinary review, according to a statement on its website. Reuters calls to the provincial credit cooperative union went unanswered.

The move came after a vice head and a former party chief of the rural credit union in central Henan province were under investigation for suspected serious violations of law and discipline.

Last year, a string of Henan financial officials were put under investigation following a rural banking scandal. Deposits worth more than $1.5 billion at a handful of small lenders in Henan had been frozen in what authorities said was a complex scam, sparking protests and public confidence in the financial system.

China’s top graft-busting body last month vowed to “resolutely” crack down on corruption in the financial sector, days after a well-known Chinese dealmaker became the latest business executive to go missing without explanation.

(Reporting by Judy Hua and Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)