SHANGHAI: A top executive at China's largest state-owned shipping company is under investigation, one of its units said in a stock exchange filing, as a report said he was being probed for alleged corruption.
Xu Minjie, vice president of COSCO Group and an executive director of its China COSCO Holdings unit, was being probed by "a relevant regulatory body", the unit said late Thursday in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The investigation will not have any "material adverse effect" on its business operations, the unit said, without providing further details.
A shipping industry news portal reported earlier Thursday that Xu was being investigated for alleged corruption linked to another COSCO unit where he served as vice chairman and managing director.
Xu joined COSCO in 1980 and held positions in multiple subsidiaries before being appointed vice president of the group in 2011, according to his profile on COSCO's website.
Shares of China COSCO Holdings sank 5.31 percent in Hong Kong while its Shanghai-listed shares fell 2.88 percent in afternoon trading on Friday after the announcement.
Xu is not the first shipping industry official to be caught up in corruption claims.
State media reported earlier that Meng Qinglin, a former general manager of COSCO's tanker arm, was investigated in July by disciplinary authorities.
China's President Xi Jinping has vowed to crack down on corruption at all levels of government, calling graft a threat to the future of the ruling Communist party.
In the most high-profile case, a Chinese court in October rejected fallen politician Bo Xilai's appeal against his corruption conviction and confirmed his life sentence. (AFP)
