Report: Another China Mobile Executive Being Investigated for Corruption

In the latest in a series of high-level executives at China Mobile being detained by authorities investigating an apparent corruption case, China Business News reports that according to sources at China Mobile, an executive at the company’s Tianjin subsidiary was detained by police on Tuesday. Sources say that four other employees nationwide were detained, but that the Tianjin Mobile executive was the highest-level employee taken by police on Tuesday. The other detentions were mid-level employees at Guangdong Mobile and Inner Mongolia Mobile, and one of the Guangdong Mobile managers has since returned to work, but the others apparently remain in police custody.

The detentions would seem to be an indication of continuing police investigations at China Mobile; investigations that came blazing into the public eye last February when former China Mobile vice-chairman was questioned for economic crimes. He subsequently resigned his position at China Mobile. China Mobile’s leadership apparently also expects the Tianjin executive to be gone for good; the China Business News cites sources as saying that internally the company is already making arrangements for finding a successor and redistributing the work.

The detentions come at a particularly bad time for China Mobile (not that there’s ever a good time to have your high-level executives detained by police), which is already facing slowing growth numbers, dropping calling and texting rates, and an increased threat from mobile web apps like WeChat that the company has thus far been unable to compete with.

(China Business News via Sina Tech)