Head of China Telecom under probe in graft crackdown

Beijing

THE head of China Telecom, one of the nation's big three telecoms firms, is under investigation for "severe disciplinary violations", the government said on Sunday, the latest high-profile target in a corruption crackdown. News of the probe into Chang Xiaobing, 58, was given in a statement on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the watchdog of the ruling Communist Party. The term is normally a euphemism for graft.

Chang had been "taken away", according to an article in the respected business magazine Caijing, which added that he disappeared just days before a meeting of the state-owned company planned for Dec 28.