Shanghai tycoon Zhang Rongkun has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the city's social security fund scandal, according to a company statement.

 

Zhang, chairman of the Fuxi Investment Holding Co., Ltd., is the first one arrested in the scandal, said the company in the one sentence statement on Saturday.

 

The statement did not describe charges against him.

 

The company said earlier in August that Zhang was assisting the investigations.

 

Zhang, 33, was ranked 16th richest man in China by Forbes magazine last year with a fortune of US$605 million.

 

Earlier on Monday, Zhang was dismissed from his post as member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

 

Last month, Chen Liangyu, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, was sacked for his involvement in the scandal.

 

Qiu Xiaohua, former head of China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), was the latest senior official to be found to "have seriously violated disciplines" in the Shanghai social security fund fraud, NBS spokesman Li Xiaochao said on Thursday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2006)