SOE reformist arrested for corruption in Shanghai

Wang Zongnan, a pioneer of reforms to State-owned enterprise, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of taking bribes and embezzling public funds in Shanghai, local prosecutors announced on their website.

Wang was put under investigation on July 28 for suspected embezzlement of public funds and bribe-taking when serving as general manager at the State-owned Shanghai Friendship Group and Lianhua Supermarket.

He had also worked as the assistant to Chen Liangyu, former Shanghai Party chief who was a member of the 25-member Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), when Chen worked as former head of Huangpu district in Shanghai between 1987 and 1992.

Chen was sentenced to 18 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power in 2008.

Wang is considered a reformist of State-owned enterprises. He helped Lianhua Supermarket to recoup years of losses after chairing the company for one year and oversaw its listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2003.

The sales volume of the State-owned Bright Food Group, one of China's biggest dairy producers, doubled from 2006 since Wang headed it. He put the company on the global stage with several acquisitions, including a 680 million pounds ($1.14 billion) deal for a controlling 60 percent stake in Britain's Weetabix Food Company in 2012, the Beijing-based Economic Information reported in November 2012.

Wang retired from the food company in 2013.

The probe into Wang, which followed by the inspection group from China's top discipline watchdog moving to Shanghai to start a two-month inspection, is reportedly to have been the opening salvo in the anti-graft campaign in Shanghai.