17 December 2013, News Wires -The Chinese government has questioned two more executives from China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) as part of a wider graft investigation into the state energy giant, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
CNPC and its listed unit PetroChina are at the centre of one of the biggest corruption investigations into the Chinese state sector in years. Wen Qingshan, CNPC’s chief accountant, and Wang Lihua, head of PetroChina’s oil trading vehicle Chinaoil, were “taken away” by authorities last week, said the people, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
Wang is also CNPC’s deputy chief economist. It was not immediately clear whether the two officials were the target of the investigation or were assisting in the broader probe. Two officials at Chinaoil – Zheng Jun, head of crude oil trading, and a company lawyer who only gave his surname as Chen – said by telephone that the Reuters report on Wang was “totally incorrect”.
“Such a thing that you reported has never happened to president Wang,” said Zheng. “She is still handling daily management work.” Zheng declined to put Reuters in touch with Wang. Other attempts to reach her were unsuccessful, as were efforts to contact Wen.
– Reuters
