China Telecom Chairman Under Investigation Amid Long-Running Corruption Probe

Mr. Baker believes that the investigation from the Chairman of China Telecom might have come due to the switching of jobs from China Unicom to China Telecom in August 2015.

In a regulatory filing China Telecom confirmed Chang is under investigation, but did not provide additional details.

The chairman of one of China’s largest state-owned mobile operators, China Telecom, is being investigated by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog.

The party’s disciplinary arm, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said on its website that Chang Xiaobing, chair of China Telecom, was suspected of having “severely violated disciplines”.

The shares traded were down 3% in early trade in Hong Kong but the drop had narrowed to 1% by the lunch break, with shares trading at HK$3.69.

Telecom isn’t the only industry that’s been under scrutiny by investigators.

The charges, including a 16 year jail sentence for the former chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation, span bribery, blackmail and “graft”, using politicians for business gain.

After conducting an internal graft investigation, the Communist Party can punish alleged offenders internally or expel them and pass them on to courts for trial, where conviction is virtually guaranteed. The head of the Hong Kong unit of a Chinese brokerage resumed his duties this month after going missing in late November. But speculation about mergers and acquisitions in China’s telecom sector has not died down. The company claimed that Mr. Guangchang was assisting authorities with an investigation. Calls to Chang’s mobile phone weren’t answered as it was switched off, the report said.. Rumors surfaced back in February about the consolidation of China’s two largest telecom companies as a effect of a surge in shares of both companies.

It’s estimated that about 70 executives at state-owned firms have been probed under suspicion of corruption since 2014, ranging from oil giants to auto makers.