Watchdog says Sinopec chief faces investigation

Wang Tianpu, president of the State-owned Sinopec Group, Asia’s biggest crude oil refiner, is under investigation for suspected “serious disciplinary violations”, the anti-graft watchdog said on Monday.

The China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection posted the statement on its website in the late afternoon, without giving further details.

The board of the company published a short statement on Monday evening, saying that the company supports the decision of the central government and will continue to fight against corruption.

“The company will make anti-corruption a priority task and make efforts to keep production and operations stable,” said the statement.

Wang, aged 52, a board director of China Petrochemical Corporation, or Sinopec, was appointed president of the company in August 2011.

The State Council gave him a major demerit on his record in January 2014 because of an explosion on Nov 22, 2013, in Shandong province, in the Donghuang II pipeline operated by Sinopec. The explosion killed 62 people.

The accident caused a financial loss of 750 million yuan ($122.6 million).

The company later published a statement saying corrosion weakened the pipeline

Prosecutors file 7,500 corruption cases