The wife of China's electrical appliance tycoon Huang Guangyu is under investigation for alleged involvement in economic crimes, Beijing police confirmed Wednesday.

The police declined to disclose when the investigation started.

Du Juan, 36, resigned as executive director of her husband's electric appliance retailer, Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings, China's biggest appliance chain, on Dec. 23.

Huang himself was detained on Nov. 24, and the company's shares were suspended from trading.

The Shanghai Securities News, which is owned by Xinhua, quoted an unidentified source as saying Du was under house arrest.

Du was a lending specialist in the Beijing Branch of the Bank of China before she married Huang in 1996. She subsequently left the bank and went to work at Gome.

Huang is facing charges of manipulating trading in the shares of two listed companies, Sanlian Commercial Co. and Beijing Centergate Technologies Co..

Hong Kong-listed Gome appointed vice president Wang Junzhou as Gome's executive director, after the tycoon and his wife came under fire.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2009)