Wang Shuaiting latest head to roll in China Resources graft investigation

Wang Shuaiting, the chairman of the listed subsidiary of China Travel Service (Holdings) Hong Kong, is being investigated on suspicion of seriously violating law and party discipline "during his tenure with China Resources", the Communist Party's anti-graft agency said last night.

Wang is believed to be the third former China Resources executive detained after former chairman Song Lin was placed under graft investigation in April by the authorities.

Prior to joining CTS in 2011, the 59-year-old was a vice-chairman of China Resources and built his career in the company's electricity arm. He served as the head of China Resources Power Holdings after taking charge of the construction and operation of the company's Xuzhou Power Plant in Jiangsu province, one of China's largest coal-fired power plants.

The reported last month that China Resources Capital Holdings chief executive Wu Ding was taken away hours after Song's detention. Wang Hongkun, the executive director of China Resources Land, was also detained.

A senior China Resources Power executive said he was surprised by news of Wang Shuaiting's detention, saying he was a talented manager who reached the top through hard work.

An analyst who covers CRP said Wang Shuaiting was heavily involved in initiating CRP's ill-fated expansion into coal mining in 2007, when it bought into the Wujianfang mining project in Inner Mongolia. CRP had told analysts it was a promising asset, but two years later, in 2009, they were told the heating value of the coal was only 60 per cent of what had been claimed.