New | Former China Unicom chairman Chang Xiaobing ‘sold state asset at fraction of its price to benefit disgraced general Guo Boxiong’

China Unicom’s former chairman is said to have sold a state-owned office building in Beijing at 800 million yuan (HK$957 million) below the market price to benefit disgraced former general Guo Boxiong’s (郭伯雄) family, according to a letter by a mainland credit assessment company.

Chang Xiaobing (常小兵) is under investigation for corruption, the Communist Party’s top anti-graft watchdog said on Sunday. He is the latest senior executive of a state-owned enterprise to fall in the mainland’s massive crackdown on corruption.

READ MORE: Chinese Communist Party graft-busters investigate China Telecom chairman Chang Xiaobing

The letter that blew the whistle on Chang was carried online by many mainland news websites and remained there despite Beijing’s tight control over the media and the internet.

It contained the name and phone numbers of Li Zhengdong, an employee at China Chengxin Credit Management. The credit assessment firm is located in the building allegedly sold by China Unicom. A staff member at the firm’s reception confirmed Li was an employee.

State-owned telecommunications giant China Unicom in 2011 sold the Beijing China Merchants

International Financial Centre to a real estate firm under the control of Guo’s family, the letter said. Guo, a former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, was once the Chinese army’s second most powerful man.

The letter said the deal resulted in about 800 million yuan worth of losses in state assets as the building was sold at only a third of its market price of 1.2 billion yuan. Other potential buyers, including insurance giant Taikang Life Insurance, had offered much higher prices but were turned down, it said.