Govt investigation of FAW expands to 50 executives: report

Around 50 executives of FAW Group Corporation, a State-owned automaker in Northeast China's Jilin Province, have been investigated by an inspection team dispatched by China's central authorities, a newspaper report said Wednesday.

So far three cases involving FAW Group's senior executives have been announced, and the investigation is still going on, Guangzhou-based The Time Weekly newspaper reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed insider within the group.

"All we know is three people have been under investigation, and we have no other information to disclose at the moment," Qu Zhuo, a staff member with FAW Group's press office, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Li Wu, former deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co, and Zhou Chun, deputy general manager of the automaker's Audi sales department, are being investigated by Jilin authorities for suspected "serious violations of laws" after an inspection team sent by China's central authorities found problems and clues, said a statement posted on the website of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) top discipline watchdog on August 26.

Then three days later, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC said in another statement that An Dewu, FAW's former deputy general manager, was also being investigated for suspected "serious violations of laws."

Qu said FAW Group has held several meetings recently to strengthen internal discipline.

According to the top discipline watchdog, eight managers in FAW Group were criticized and punished at a group meeting held on September 2, as they used public funds for traveling or illegally used public cars and housing.

Analysts said the inspection team's efforts will help FAW Group improve its management and remove barriers for a long-waited public listing.

FAW Group Corp has aimed for an overall listing since 2007, but it now lags behind the other five major auto manufacturing groups in China, which have already been listed or queued for an IPO.