THE former head of the pricing division at China’s top economic planning agency has been detained for questioning, caixin.com reported Wednesday.

    Cao Changqing, who retired from the National Development and Reform Commission three months ago following a management reshuffle, is most likely being investigated in relation to the corruption scandal at the National Energy Administration, the report said.

    News of his detention came less than a week after the Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced that Zhang Dong-sheng, a former director of the commission, was being investigated on suspicion of taking bribes. In June, Liu Tienan, the agency’s former deputy head, was charged with corruption, paving the way for his trial.

    Cao was a veteran of the NDRC and had been head of the pricing division, which has responsibility for such things as setting electricity and water charges, since 2007. During his tenure he was involved in a number of price control and reform activities, and his role was both “important and sensitive,” the report said.

    He retired in the wake of a senior management shake-up involving four vice secretary generals and seven division heads, it said.

    Cao is the latest in a growing number of high-profile officials to come under scrutiny as the government deepens its anti-corruption campaign.

    The Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the body responsible for rooting out corruption, said on its website Wednesday that Chen Yong, director of the Jiangsu Bureau of Energy Administration, is also under investigation on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law. (SD-Agencies)