Rumours the general manager of prestigious liquor maker Guizhou Moutai Co Ltd is under investigation grew louder on Friday, after the company's shares were suddenly suspended from trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The Beijing Times reported yesterday that Qiao Hong was being investigated by the Guizhou provincial Party commission for discipline inspection on April 30.

Qiao Hong

His wife, youngest brother, brother's wife and younger sister were all already being investigated.

The only members of Qiao's family not yet under investigation are his other younger brother and son, but they have been told on several occasions to voluntarily come in for questioning or face "legal proceedings", the newspaper said.

Several of Qiao's friends are also being investigated, as are other figures connected with Moutai including former sales agents and suppliers.

In the meantime, more than 30 company officers nearly half the middle and top managers have had their jobs reshuffled in a massive reorganisation of Moutai's executive structure.

In an effort to clean up the company's image, Moutai has moved junior managers less closely associated with Qiao up the ranks, while those seen as "Qiao's men" have been demoted.

An insider said the reshuffle will be completed before next Tuesday.

Qiao, 54, became general manager of Moutai in 2000, his duties mainly revolved around managing sales.

Before taking the job he had been a vice-director of Guizhou's provincial department for light industry management.

The investigation is believed to have been triggered by a series of anonymous letters that claimed Qiao took bribes and sought to benefit other members of his family through shady deals.

Neither the distillery nor local discipline department was willing to provide details of the case when China Daily contacted them yesterday.

Despite the investigation, company reshuffle and the shares' suspension, Qiao has had a successful six years at Moutai, playing on the liquor's well-known name to build strong profits.

Sales value jumped from 980 million yuan ($127 million) in 1999 to 6.2 billion yuan ($807 million) last year.

Net profit in 2006 soared by 34.47 percent to 1.5 billion yuan ($195 million).

The stock, a favorite with domestic and foreign investors, in January became the first mainland stock to rise above 100 yuan ($13) in nearly six years.

(China Daily 05/12/2007 page3)

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