Report: China Mobile’s Top Exec in Guangzhou Detained by Police

China Mobile, it seems, is in trouble. Last week, China Business News reported that police had detained a high-level executive at the company’s Tianjin subsidiary and several management level employees in Guangzhou in connection to an apparent corruption case. Now, the same paper is reporting that Li Xinze, the CEO of Guangzhou Mobile (China Mobile’s Guangzhou subsidiary), has been detained by police.

Specifically, a source told the paper that Li was taken from his home by police on the evening of April 27. While it’s not known what Li is being questioned about, it’s likely related to the apparent corruption case police have been pursuing since former China Mobile chairman Zhang Chunjiang was indicted back in 2010.

While Li has served as Guangzhou Mobile’s CEO since 2009, it is also possible that he’s being investigated for wrongdoing that predates his appointment to that position (he was the company’s marketing director from 2003 to 2009).

Of course no charges have been made public yet, and while China Business News is generally a reliable publication, one should always take anonymously-sourced stories with a few grains of salt. If China Mobile executives are guilty of corruption, it will be announced officially sooner or later. But the news of such high-profile detentions certainly doesn’t help the company, and I suspectit’s making other China Mobile executives who might have skeletons in their closets very nervous.

(China Business News via Sina Tech)