CHINA: A massive corruption investigation in China's financial centre Shanghai has widened to include the general manager of the city's new Formula One grand prix circuit as well as the country's former top statistician.
Yu Zhifei, general manager of Shanghai International Circuit, was "assisting investigations" into a scandal involving the abuse of one-third of a €1 billion pension fund to make illegal loans and investments in real estate and other infrastructure deals.
The investigation has caused a big stir in Shanghai - 100 investigators from Beijing descended on Shanghai, taking over a luxury hotel near the city centre and driving around the city in cars with blacked-out windows.
In China the financial scandal is described as the biggest to hit the city since the onset of economic reforms and political openness in the the 1980s.
The central government in Beijing has been engaged in a high-profile campaign aimed at weeding out graft in the Communist Party as they fear it has a destabilising influence.
The investigation also has a wider political significance as President Hu Jintao is trying to consolidate his position at the helm of the Communist Party and is keen to weed out remaining supporters of his predecessor Jiang Zemin.
The Shanghai city government pumped €280 million into building the Chinese grand prix circuit, located an hour from Shanghai, to give the city a global profile. The third grand prix at the track was held this month.
Around 10 top city officials and businessmen have been identified in the investigation, including Chen Liangyu, the most senior Communist Party official in China's financial hub and a member of the powerful Politburo. Mr Chen had worked with Mr Yu when the two were local officials in Shanghai's Huangpu district.
A flamboyant figure who started out as a factory boss but worked his way up to the head of the Shanghai Shenhua soccer club, Mr Yu is a familiar figure on the city's social circuit. He brought Manchester United to Shanghai to play against his club in 1999.
Another well-known figure implicated in the investigation is Qiu Xiaohua, the former head of China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). A spokesman for the NBS said Mr Qiu was being investigated for a "serious violation of discipline". He was removed, without any explanation, as the country's top statistician by China's cabinet, the State Council, last week even though he was only appointed in March.