More FAW execs may have been involved in graft

The number of senior executives under investigation for a missing 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in property funds from FAW Group Co has increased to over 100 from fewer than 30 previously reported, the 21st Century Business Herald said Wednesday.

The executives probed by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC are from multiple subsidiaries and departments of the State-owned, Changchun-based carmaker, and some departments have seen all of their top directors probed, the newspaper reported, quoting sources close to the matter.

"Investigators have turned up constantly at FAW to take people away for probes since last year, and the staff is really in a panic now," said an FAW senior manager on condition of anonymity. "Heaven knows who's next."

Zhou Yongjiang, FAW's deputy chief economist, has been detained in a corruption investigation related to the property case, and FAW's former chairman Zhu Yanfeng was also investigated, the newspaper reported on April 2.

The suspected embezzlement was discovered during an audit of the group's financials in preparation for its listing on the A-share market.

"The tip-off from conscientious senior employees and retired executives provided the basis for the disclosure," said the sources.

Given that many of the executives under investigation have been restricted from traveling overseas, some top FAW managers have recently taken overseas trips to demonstrate their innocence, said the sources.

The oldest automaker in China has 13 subsidiaries and controls over half of Chang­chun's property projects, according to the sources.