CNPC chief accountant resigns following graft allegations

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-12-21

A PetroChina gas station in Beijing. (Photo/CNS)

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) — China's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, also known as PetroChina — said on Dec. 17 that chief accountant Wen Qingshan has resigned for "personal reasons." Prior to the announcement, Wen had been held for questioning in an investigation of a corruption scandal which has recently engulfed the state-owned company, reports the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald.

Kunlun Energy, a CNPC subsidiary, also announced that Wen had stepped down as its chairman and executive director. A day earlier, media reports said Wen was under investigation but it is unclear whether the new development signals a second round of anti-corruption action against CNPC.

Wen has held several positions relating to finance over his long-spanning career working for CNPC. He was appointed Kunlun Energy chairman and executive director in late August this year to replace Li Hualin, who was sacked due to discipline issues — an oft used euphemism for graft.

A source told the paper that aside from Wen several other CNPC officials are also caught up in government probes related to overseas investments and trade. The oil giant declined to confirm the allegations, however.

The anti-corruption drive against CNPC has been sweeping China since August. On Sept. 3, Beijing replaced the head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, former CPNC chairman Jiang Jiemin, who has also been placed under investigation, the paper said. During Jiang's term, Wen had been the group's deputy chief accountant and finance department chief.

When Jiang headed CNPC, he planned to develop the company into the world's first-class integrated international energy company by 2020. CNPC's capital expenditure has subsequently continued to grow over the past years, and it is expected to reach 355 billion yuan (US$58.5 billion) this year, up from 352.5 billion yuan (US$58.1 billion) last year and 284.4 billion yuan (US$46.8 billion) in 2011. As of early 2013, its total assets reached US$347.8 billion, becoming one of the world's top 10 oil and finery companies.

Following Jiang's sacking, Wen's investigation is quite normal, a CNPC source said. Meanwhile, the direction of the government probe seems to focus on CNPC's overseas investments and trade business, especially as such transactions are huge and complicated and they can be easily manipulated, the paper said.

As the company's chief accountant, Wen would have been privy to many details of the firm's overseas investments and trade, insiders added.